Rickettsia prowazekii: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

A bacterial agent which causes epidemic typhus. Believed to be a close cousin to bacteria used in forming the first mitochondrial DNA.

This bacteria was named for H. T. Ricketts and S. J. M. Prowazek, typhus researchers who died while studying various Rickettsia strains.

References

Nature 396, 109 - 110 (12 November 1998) by Michael W. Gray