Koch-Weeks bacillus

Alternative eponyms

Related people

The cause of acute conjunctival catarrh, or prink-eye.

Description

A pleomorphic form of the Hemophilus influenzae, the cause of acute conjunctival catarrh or prink-eye.

In 1883 Koch discovered the bacilli of two different forms of infectious conjunctivitis, or Egyptian ophthalmia. In 1886 Weeks discovered the same organism to be the cause of "pink-eye".

Bibliography

  • Robert Koch:
    Bericht üeber die Thätigkeit der deutschen Cholerakommission in Aegypten und Ostindien.
    Wiener medizinische Wochenschrift, 1883, 33: 1548-1551.
  • J. E. Weeks:
    The bacillus of acute cunjunctival catarrh or "pink eye".
    Archives of Ophthalmology, Chicago, 1886, 15: 441-451.

What is an eponym?

An eponym is a word derived from the name of a person, whether real or fictional. A medical eponym is thus any word related to medicine, whose name is derived from a person.

What is Whonamedit?

Whonamedit.com is a biographical dictionary of medical eponyms. It is our ambition to present a complete survey of all medical phenomena named for a person, with a biography of that person.

Disclaimer:

Whonamedit? does not give medical advice.
This survey of medical eponyms and the persons behind them is meant as a general interest site only. No information found here must under any circumstances be used for medical purposes, diagnostically, therapeutically or otherwise. If you, or anybody close to you, is affected, or believe to be affected, by any condition mentioned here: see a doctor.