Klebs, Edwin (1834–1913)

German pathologist and bacteriologist, who helped pioneer the bacterial theory of infection. He was first to see the typhoid bacillus (in 1881) and the diphtheria bacillus (in 1883). He held numerous professorships in pathology, both in Europe and the USA.

Klebs was born in Königsberg, East Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia). He studied there and at Würzburg and Berlin, where he took his medical degree in 1856. He became assistant to the pathologist Rudolf Virchow in 1861. In 1871, his researches into the pathology of wound infection discovered the presence of bacteria; he then devised a filter impervious to bacteria and was the first person to filter them. His experiments included the inoculation of apes with syphilis (1873) and the production of bovine tuberculosis (1873). After being professor at Bern (1866), Würzburg (1871), Prague (1873), Zürich (1882), he moved to the USA and joined Rush Medical College, in Chicago (1896). He returned to Europe in 1900, where he remained for the rest of his life.