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 • May 1, 2020

With anthrax bacilli vitality is retained for nearly a week; whereas, the comma bacillus appears to be killed in a very short time.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 458, October 11, 1884 by Various

Cultures of the comma bacillus were also made in agar-agar jelly, which is not liquefied by them.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 458, October 11, 1884 by Various

Remarks.—But for the assurance of the tale itself that Hobyahs are no more, Mr. Batten's portraits of them would have convinced me that they were the bogles or spirits of the comma bacillus.

From More English Fairy Tales by Batten, John Dickson

This disease is caused by the presence of a microbe, known as the "comma bacillus," which manufactures a virulent poison, called a ptomaine.

From The Royal Road to Health by Tyrrell, Charles Alfred