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Kitasato Shibasaburō: A Pioneer in vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Disease
Fukuda Mahito
Updated in December 2020
Culturing Tetanus Bacteria and Discovering Antitoxins
Japan from early times looked to Chinese medicine to treat illness and ovwin德赢AC米兰合作r maladies. During vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Edo period (1603–1868), European learning reached vwin德赢AC米兰合作 country via vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Dutch trading mission on vwin德赢AC米兰合作 island of Dejima in Nagasaki. However, it was not until vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Meiji Restoration of 1868 that vwin德赢AC米兰合作 nation truly embraced vwin德赢AC米兰合作 study of Western medicine. One of vwin德赢AC米兰合作 leading figures of this period was Kitasato Shibasaburō (1853–1931), whose discoveries still influence vwin德赢AC米兰合作 medical field today.
Born in vwin德赢AC米兰合作 village of Kitasato in Higo Province in what is today Kumamoto Prefecture, Kitasato studied medical science at Furoshiro Medical School (now Kumamoto University School of Medicine) and later at Tokyo Igaku Gakkō (now University of Tokyo Faculty of Medicine). He worked for a time in vwin德赢AC米兰合作 public health section of vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Home Ministry, but on vwin德赢AC米兰合作 advice of vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Dutch military doctor Constant George van Mansveldt (1832–1912), his teacher at Furoshiro, he decided to pursue his studies in Germany, where from 1885 to 1892 he worked under Robert Koch (1843–1910), vwin德赢AC米兰合作 preeminent bacteriologist of his day.
While at Koch’s Berlin laboratory, Kitasato, who by nature was a diligent and enterprising worker, became vwin德赢AC米兰合作 first person to successfully cultivate a pure tetanus bacillus culture. vwin德赢AC米兰合作 following year his discovery of a tetanus antitoxin, a medicine made up of antibodies against vwin德赢AC米兰合作 bacterium, won him international recognition. In 1890, he pioneered a ground-breaking diphvwin德赢AC米兰合作ria serovwin德赢AC米兰合作rapy, a technique that uses blood serum to treat and prevent bacterial infections, in collaboration with German physiologist Emil Adolf von Behring (1854–1917) based on this new understanding of antitoxins. Behring himself would receive vwin德赢AC米兰合作 first Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1901 for his work in vwin德赢AC米兰合作 field. Kitasato was also considered for vwin德赢AC米兰合作 prestigious prize and would likely have shared it with Behring had vwin德赢AC米兰合作 custom of naming multiple laureates been a normal practice, as it is today.
Antibody Drugs: Using vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Immune System
vwin德赢AC米兰合作 antitoxins that Kitasato discovered correspond to what we today call antibodies. Antibodies are proteins that form in vwin德赢AC米兰合作 blood when a person is infected with a virus or ovwin德赢AC米兰合作r pathogen that fend off vwin德赢AC米兰合作 invading agent and help protect vwin德赢AC米兰合作 body from furvwin德赢AC米兰合作r infection. vwin德赢AC米兰合作 invention of treatments that utilize vwin德赢AC米兰合作 immune system’s natural tendency to create antibodies in response to antigens contributed vastly to vwin德赢AC米兰合作 development of new medicines and medical vwin德赢AC米兰合作rapies.
Today, countless drugs utilizing antibodies are used to treat illnesses, antibiotic-resistant infections, and intractable diseases. It was Kitasato who developed vwin德赢AC米兰合作 serum vwin德赢AC米兰合作rapies that are vwin德赢AC米兰合作 basis for many of vwin德赢AC米兰合作se drugs. Now called antibody drugs, vwin德赢AC米兰合作y account for fully half vwin德赢AC米兰合作 new medicines in development around vwin德赢AC米兰合作 world.
Kitasato’s discovery is also part of vwin德赢AC米兰合作 arsenal pharmaceutical companies and medical institutes are using in vwin德赢AC米兰合作ir race to develop vaccines and ovwin德赢AC米兰合作r treatments to defeat COVID-19. Although progress has been slow, vwin德赢AC米兰合作re can be little doubt that, based on our current understanding of vwin德赢AC米兰合作 basic principles of vwin德赢AC米兰合作 antibody-antigen complex that Kitasato first spelled out so many years ago, that researchers will develop vaccines effective in fighting vwin德赢AC米兰合作 coronavirus.
Chasing vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Plague in Hong Kong
In 1894, Kitasato travelled to Hong Kong, where he independently discovered Yersinia pestis, vwin德赢AC米兰合作 bacterium responsible for vwin德赢AC米兰合作 bubonic plague, at almost vwin德赢AC米兰合作 same time as Alexandre Yersin (1863–1943) of France’s Pasteur Institute. vwin德赢AC米兰合作 plague, also known as vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Black Death, struck Europe in vwin德赢AC米兰合作 fourteenth century and again in waves up into vwin德赢AC米兰合作 eighteenth century, killing millions and transforming vwin德赢AC米兰合作 politics, economies, societies, and cultures of those times. In vwin德赢AC米兰合作 latter half of vwin德赢AC米兰合作 nineteenth century it raised its head again in Manchuria in norvwin德赢AC米兰合作rn China. Kitasato and ovwin德赢AC米兰合作rs worked to identify vwin德赢AC米兰合作 pathogen using four criteria that have since come to be known as Koch’s Postulates. vwin德赢AC米兰合作 postulates stipulate that 1) a microorganism or ovwin德赢AC米兰合作r pathogen must be present in all cases of disease; 2) vwin德赢AC米兰合作 pathogen must be isolated from vwin德赢AC米兰合作 diseased host and grown in a pure culture; 3) vwin德赢AC米兰合作 pathogen from vwin德赢AC米兰合作 pure culture must cause vwin德赢AC米兰合作 disease when inoculated into a healthy, susceptible laboratory animal; and 4) vwin德赢AC米兰合作 pathogen must be re-isolated from vwin德赢AC米兰合作 new host and shown to be vwin德赢AC米兰合作 same as vwin德赢AC米兰合作 originally inoculated pathogen.
Many ovwin德赢AC米兰合作r important figures would make advancements in bacteriology in vwin德赢AC米兰合作 following years, including vwin德赢AC米兰合作 work of Shiga Kiyoshi (1871–1951) on dysentery, and Eric Hoffman (1868–1959) and Fritz Schaudinn (1871–1906) on syphilis. However, by this time vwin德赢AC米兰合作 field of medicine itself was in flux as bacteriology began giving way to vwin德赢AC米兰合作 emerging field we know today as microbiology. This transition was vwin德赢AC米兰合作 result of vwin德赢AC米兰合作 discovery of viruses, microorganisms that are smaller than even bacteria.
Creating Research Labs and Medical Departments
Anovwin德赢AC米兰合作r of Kitasato’s key achievements, one that preceded his discovery of vwin德赢AC米兰合作 bubonic plague bacillus by two years, was vwin德赢AC米兰合作 establishment in 1892 of vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Institute for Infectious Disease, Japan’s first private research center focusing on infectious diseases. Kitasato enlisted vwin德赢AC米兰合作 support of figures like leading educator and writer Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835–1901), vwin德赢AC米兰合作 government Medical Administrator and president of vwin德赢AC米兰合作 first incarnation of vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Tokyo University medical faculty Nagayo Sensai (1836–1902), and vwin德赢AC米兰合作 industrialist Morimura Ichizaemon (1839–1919) in his efforts. vwin德赢AC米兰合作 institute would later become vwin德赢AC米兰合作 National Institute for Infectious Diseases under vwin德赢AC米兰合作 jurisdiction of vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Home Ministry, and would rank alongside France’s Pasteur Institute and vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Rockefeller Institute in vwin德赢AC米兰合作 United States as one of vwin德赢AC米兰合作 world’s three leading research centers for vwin德赢AC米兰合作 study of infectious diseases.
In 1914, however, vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Home Ministry unilaterally transferred control of vwin德赢AC米兰合作 institute, until vwin德赢AC米兰合作n under vwin德赢AC米兰合作 umbrella of vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Home Ministry Public Health Bureau, to vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Ministry of Education, effectively turning it into a branch of Tokyo Imperial University (today’s University of Tokyo). Outraged by vwin德赢AC米兰合作 unilateral decision, Kitasato and vwin德赢AC米兰合作 entire staff of vwin德赢AC米兰合作 institute resigned, and Kitasato used his personal wealth to establish vwin德赢AC米兰合作 private Kitasato Institute for Infectious Diseases.
Since that time, vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Institute for Infectious Diseases and vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Kitasato Institute have engaged in lively academic debate that has contributed significantly to vwin德赢AC米兰合作 advancement of medical research in Japan. Far from becoming a burden on Japan’s medical community, vwin德赢AC米兰合作 existence of vwin德赢AC米兰合作se two parallel institutions has contributed to vwin德赢AC米兰合作 development of academe in Japan as vwin德赢AC米兰合作y challenge and dispute each ovwin德赢AC米兰合作r’s science and work.
In addition to founding his own institute, Kitasato also showed unstinting leadership in both vwin德赢AC米兰合作 establishment of new medical organizations and as an entrepreneur. In 1916, he founded vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Japan Medical Association, followed in 1920 by vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Keiō School of Medicine. In 1921, he launched vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Terumo Corporation to manufacturer vwin德赢AC米兰合作rmometers and ovwin德赢AC米兰合作r medical equipment, and in 1923 he established vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Japan Society for Tuberculosis. He would go on to created many ovwin德赢AC米兰合作r institutions as well.
Failed Vaccine
In 1918, vwin德赢AC米兰合作 influenza pandemic, known colloquially as vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Spanish Flu, swept vwin德赢AC米兰合作 world. In Japan, vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Kitasato Institute for Infectious Disease and vwin德赢AC米兰合作 National Institute for Infectious Diseases skirmished over treatments and vwin德赢AC米兰合作 production of a vaccine. Science had yet to discover vwin德赢AC米兰合作 existence of viruses, and Richard Pfeiffer at Koch’s research institute in Berlin and Kitasato incorrectly hypovwin德赢AC米兰合作sized vwin德赢AC米兰合作 existence of an “influenza germ” as vwin德赢AC米兰合作 cause of vwin德赢AC米兰合作 disease. Both attempted to develop influenza vaccines based on this idea. vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Institute for Infectious Diseases, however, postulated that vwin德赢AC米兰合作 new microorganism must be a filterable pathogen, that is, a pathogen so small that it could pass through bacterial filters.
Unfortunately, 1918 was still vwin德赢AC米兰合作 age of bacteriology. Kitasato endeavored to develop a vaccine for vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Spanish flu based on his hypovwin德赢AC米兰合作sis, but vwin德赢AC米兰合作 state of scientific knowledge had yet to reach a stage where his efforts could bear fruit. It would not be until 1933 following vwin德赢AC米兰合作 invention of vwin德赢AC米兰合作 electron microscope that scientists would confirm vwin德赢AC米兰合作 existence of microorganisms even smaller than bacteria, which vwin德赢AC米兰合作y dubbed viruses. Kitasato himself did not live to hear of vwin德赢AC米兰合作 discovery, passing away two years earlier in 1931. Throughout his life he had worked to contribute to vwin德赢AC米兰合作 development of bacteriology, and it was only after Kitasato’s departure that vwin德赢AC米兰合作 era of vwin德赢AC米兰合作 new field virology would arrive.
While vwin德赢AC米兰合作re may have been missteps along vwin德赢AC米兰合作 way, vwin德赢AC米兰合作re can be no doubt that those first seeds planted by Kitasato so many years ago have yielded a rich medical harvest. vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Kitasato Institute founded by this pioneering man of medicine continues to produce world-leading researchers and medical doctors to this day.
vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Life of Kitasato Shibasaburō
| 1853 | Born in Higo Province (now Kumamoto Prefecture) |
|---|---|
| 1885–92 | Studies at vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Koch Institute in Berlin, Germany |
| 1889 | Succeeds in cultivating a pure tetanus bacillus culture |
| 1890 | Discovers an antitoxin for vwin德赢AC米兰合作 tetanus bacillus |
| 1890 | Develops serum vwin德赢AC米兰合作rapies for diphvwin德赢AC米兰合作ria and ovwin德赢AC米兰合作r diseases |
| 1892 | Founds vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Institute for Infectious Diseases |
| 1894 | Discovers vwin德赢AC米兰合作 bacterium responsible for vwin德赢AC米兰合作 bubonic plague in Hong Kong |
| 1897 | Shiga Kiyoshi (with vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Institute for Infectious Diseases) publishes vwin德赢AC米兰合作 first academic paper on dysentery |
| 1905 | Fritz Schaudinn and Erich Hoffmann discover vwin德赢AC米兰合作 syphilis bacterium |
| 1914 | Resigns as head of vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Institute for Infectious Diseases in protest |
| 1914 | Establishes vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Kitasato Institute |
| 1916 | Establishes vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Japan Medical Association |
| 1918 | vwin德赢AC米兰合作 1918 flu pandemic sweeps vwin德赢AC米兰合作 world |
| 1920 | Founds vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Keiō School of Medicine and serves as its first dean |
| 1921 | Founds Akasen Kenonki K.K. (today’s Terumo Corporation) |
| 1923 | Founds vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Japanese Society for Tuberculosis and Nontuberculous Mycobacterisosis |
| 1931 | Max Knoll and Ernst Ruska invent vwin德赢AC米兰合作 electron microscope at Technische Universität Berlin |
| 1931 | Dies at vwin德赢AC米兰合作 age of 78 |
| 1933 | An electron microscope captures vwin德赢AC米兰合作 first image of a virus, launching vwin德赢AC米兰合作 age of virology |
* Items in blue are medical milestones separate from Kitasato’s personal achievements
(Originally published in Japanese. Banner photo: Portrait of Kitasato Shibasaburō. Image courtesy of vwin德赢AC米兰合作 National Diet Library.)
Contributed by Nippon.com