- A dictionary of medical eponyms

Schmitz's bacillus

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A relatively rare organism that causes bacillary dysentery.

It was first described by Schmitz in 1917 after observing a winter epidemic of diarrhoea in an eastern European prison camp during World War I. A. C. Evans in 1938 described outbreaks among patients in psychiatric hospitals in Wales.

We thank Rudolf Kleinert, Bad Reichenhall, Germany, for information submitted.

Bibliography

  • K. E. F. Schmitz:
    Ein neuer Typus aus der Gruppe der Ruhrbazillen als Erreger einer grösseren Epidemie.
    Zeitschrift für Hygiene und Infektionskrankheiten, Leipzig, 1917, 84: 449-515.
  • A. C. Evans:
    Dysentery due to Bacterium dysenteriae (Schmitz). The Lancet, 1938, 2:187-190.

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