title: Gerhard Hansen: discoverer of the organism of leprosy.
abstract: This year marks the hundredth anniversary of the death, on 12 February 1912, of the Norwegian leprologist, Gerhard Hansen, who was the first to describe the Mycobacterium leprae (Hansen's bacillus). It was, in fact, only the second specific disease-causing organism to be discovered, the first being the bacillus of anthrax.
authors.affiliation: Guy's, King's and St Thomas' School of Biomedical Sciences, London SE1 1UL.
authors.forename: Harold
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ellis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007918:Leprosy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000266:history* / Q000382:microbiology; D009664:Norway; D044465:White People / Q000266:history