He was interested in a disease called bacillary dysentery, which is a bacterial infection that causes severe diarrhea, and back then, was actually killing a lot of people, because after all, no cure for bacterial infections had been invented.
Era interessato a una malattia chiamata dissenteria bacillare, un'infezione batterica che provoca forte diarrea e che a quel tempo uccideva molte persone, perché non era stata ancora inventata alcuna cura per le infezioni batteriche.