ABSTRACT
The discovery of Shigella dysenteriae was reported by Kiyoshi Shiga in Japanese (Shiga, 1897) and then in German (Shiga, 1898). Soon after this report, several investigators attempted to isolate the toxin from the organism (Flexner, 1900; Neisser and Shiga, 1903; Conradi, 1903). Although extensive progress was achieved in characterizing the toxin produced by Shigella dysenteriae (Olitsky and Kligler, 1920; van Heyningen and Gladstone, 1953; Keusch et al., 1972), highly purified Shiga toxin was obtained only about 10 years ago (Olsnes and Eiklid, 1980; O'Brien et al., 1980).
