What did Kitasato Shibasaburo do?

Developed a method to prevent and treat tetanus, a disease that causes generalized convulsions.

In 1889, Shibasaburo Kitasato succeeded for the first time in the world in increasing only tetanus bacteria.

Tetanus is a disease in which tetanus bacteria enter the body through wounds and cause muscle spasms throughout the body.
In order to find ways to prevent and cure the disease, it was necessary to increase and remove only the tetanus bacillus and examine it in detail.
Shibasaburo Shibasaburo investigated the tetanus bacillus and developed a method of prevention and treatment of tetanus, saving many people from the fear of tetanus.

Shibasaburo Kitasato
Shibasaburo Kitasato
1853-1931
Medical scientist and bacteriologist

Shibasaburo Kitasato
Shibasaburo Kitasato
1853-1931
Medical scientist and bacteriologist

It is very difficult to increase only one type of bacteria! It is said that it is extremely difficult to grow only one type of fungus while taking care to prevent other fungi and dust from entering.
To succeed, it requires a high level of skill, specialized knowledge, hard work, and perseverance.
Shibasaburo created a unique device and succeeded in increasing the number of tetanus bacteria, something that no one had ever done before.

What does a bacteriologist do?

Once upon a time, there was a pandemic of a disease called plague. The plague was a highly feared disease with a high probability of death once contracted.
In 1894, when the plague broke out in Hong Kong, Shibasaburo went to investigate its cause. In just two days, he discovered that the plague was caused by the plague bacillus.
He also noticed that there were many dead rats in the homes of his patients, and discovered that eliminating rats, which were the cause of the spread of the plague, would help prevent the plague.

Leave it to cats to prevent plague! Shibasaburo encouraged everyone to keep cats in their houses to exterminate rats, which were the cause of the plague.
He also gave detailed instructions on specific methods to prevent the plague, such as how to prevent rats from entering the house and how to allow cats to freely enter and leave the house.

What kind of people did Shibasaburo Kitasato know?

Yukichi Fukuzawa and Hideyo Noguchi are well-known for their faces on bills. Shibasaburo was deeply involved with these two men.
In 1892, Japan's first research institute for infectious diseases was built in Tokyo, and Shibasaburo became its director. Yukichi Fukuzawa provided the location and construction costs for the institute. Yukichi was moved by Shibasaburo's enthusiasm for research and offered his cooperation.
Hideyo Noguchi joined Shibasaburo's laboratory as an assistant. Hideyo Noguchi later made many accomplishments, but he must have benefited from the experience of studying under Shibasaburo.

Research Institute for Infectious Diseases is a facility of hope to save people from diseases The Research Institute for Infectious Diseases is a facility that researches and manufactures medicines to prevent and treat infectious diseases.
Shibasaburo's laboratory developed a variety of medicines and saved many people from infectious diseases.
The Institute for Research on Infectious Diseases, which made such outstanding achievements, is known as one of the "world's three great research institutes" together with the Koch Institute for Research on Infectious Diseases and the Pasteur Institute.