yersinia

yer·sin·ia

noun \yər-ˈsin-ē-ə\

Definition of YERSINIA

1

capitalized : a genus of gram-negative bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae that includes several important pathogens (as the plague bacterium, Y. pestis) affecting animals and humans and formerly included in the genus Pasteurella—see plague 2

2

: any bacterium of the genus Yersinia

Biographical Note for YERSINIA

Yer·sin \yer-saⁿ\ , Alexandre–Émile–John (1863–1943), French bacteriologist. Yersin studied bacteriology under Émile Roux in Paris and Robert Koch in Berlin. Later, in Hong Kong, he and Kitasato Shibasaburo independently discovered the plague bacillus at about the same time. In 1944 the genus Yersinia containing the plague bacillus (Y. pestis) was named after Yersin.