Medical Dictionary

Shiga bacillus

noun Shi·ga bacillus \ ˈshē-gə- \

medical Definition of Shiga bacillus

: a widely distributed but chiefly tropical bacterium of the genus Shigella (S. dysenteriae) that causes dysentery in humans and monkeys

Biographical Note for shiga bacillus

Shiga \shē-gä\, Kiyoshi (1870–1957), Japanese bacteriologist. Shiga is best known for the discovery in 1897 of a bacillus that causes dysentery. Originally the bacterium was classified in the genus Bacillus, but in 1919 along with several other species it was placed in a new genus, Shigella, which was named in honor of Shiga.