comma bacillus

American  

noun

1. a curved, rod-shaped bacterium, Vibrio cholerae, causing Asiatic cholera.

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comma bacillus British  

noun

1. a comma-shaped bacterium, Vibrio comma, that causes cholera in man: family Spirillaceae

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Etymology

Origin of comma bacillus

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

Pacini had discovered the “germ”, but it was not until the German physician Robert Koch himself discovered the comma bacillus in Egypt in 1883 that germ theory became popularised.

From The Guardian

Although they agreed that the comma bacilli that Dr. Koch described did truly exist, they denied that the germs had anything to do with cholera.

From New York Times

He poses the question in the following manner: Either these "comma bacilli" are a product of the cholera process, or "the disease only arises when these specific organisms have found their way into the bowel."

From Project Gutenberg

For some years it was called the “comma bacillus,” from its supposed resemblance in shape to a comma, but it was subsequently found Causation. to be a vibrio or spirillum, not a bacillus.

From Project Gutenberg

The insane temperament is more enduringly fatal to the welfare of humanity than the deadly comma bacillus which is supposed to convey the scourge of Asia to our shores.

From Project Gutenberg