Corynebacterium diphtheriae

Species of prokaryote

Corynebacterium diphtheriae is a Gram-positive pathogenic bacterium that causes diphtheria. It is also known as the Klebs–Löffler bacillus because it was discovered in 1884 by German bacteriologists Edwin Klebs (1834–1913) and Friedrich Löffler (1852–1915). While nontoxigenic C. diphtheriae may rarely produce systemic disease by invading tissues, virulence is enhanced when the bacteria are infected by a bacteriophage carrying a gene which gives rise to a toxin.

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