Michael Jordan has been the recipient of virtually countless honors. From trophies and bronze busts in his likeness, to shoes and shirts and basketballs bearing his name, it would be hard to come up with a single tribute Jordan has not been paid.

But I don't know what he's going to think when he hears about this one.

"I haven't told many people about this because I thought that they might take it the wrong way," said Dr. Stanford Shulman, co-director of the microbiology laboratory at Chicago's Children's Memorial Hospital. "Believe me, I meant for this to be a high honor for him."

Here's what happened:

Earlier this year, during the Bulls' drive toward their third National Basketball Association title, a young girl was brought to the hospital. She had been abroad, and had come back to the United States with a severe case of diarrhea and a high fever.

"We obtained a stool culture," Dr. Shulman said. "The lab report indicated that she had a salmonella organism growing."

According to Dr. Shulman, who is a professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Medical School, all cases of salmonella must be reported to the state.

"A couple of weeks after we had reported the case of salmonella, we got a phone call," Dr. Shulman said. "The lab had checked with the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, and we had a new strain of salmonella on our hands. Apparently this particular strain had never been detected before."

Dr. Shulman was told that it was his responsibility to submit a name for the new salmonella bacterium.

"There are more than 2,200 strains of salmonella," he said. "Most of them are named for geographic areas of the world." He said he looked at the official list of salmonella bacteria. "I noticed that a lot of them started with the letter `m,' " he said.

This gave him an idea. "I am such a huge fan of Michael Jordan," he said. "I have a big stand-up poster of him in my office. I thought I would name this strain of salmonella for him."

Now, some people might not think this was the greatest tribute in the world-to have a bacterium that gives people diarrhea and fever named after you. But the doctor said that he meant this as a gesture of great respect for Jordan.

"In my profession, this was the best tribute I could pay to him," Dr. Shulman said.

So, he said, he submitted the name to the official salmonella ruling body in Paris. "This group functions as the world nomenclature committee for applications naming varius strains of salmonella," he said.

The name submitted to the committee was Salmonella mjordan.

"The first word is always capitalized, and the second word isn't," Dr. Shulman said. "And it is always italicized in medical literature."

The board in Paris, he said, bestowed its approval on the new name. "Either they didn't understand the reference I was making," Dr. Shulman said, "or they did understand, and went along with it because they are Michael Jordan fans, too."

Dr. Shulman kept quiet when he first received notification that Salmonella mjordan was now an officially recognized strain. "Michael Jordan was just opening up his restaurant," Dr. Shulman said. "I really thought that for me to make public the Jordan strain of salmonella would be a bad idea at that particular time. I didn't want anyone to see Jordan's restaurant and the word `salmonella' mentioned in the same newspaper stories, and get the wrong idea. This has nothing to do with his restaurant."

Now, though, with Jordan retiring, the doctor feels the time is right to announce what he has done in Jordan's honor.

"I have pictures of the strain of salmonella if you would like to see them," Dr. Shulman said.

No, thank you.

"I have tried to get word to Michael Jordan that this bacterium bears his name," Dr. Shulman said. "The Bulls' team doctor assured me he would pass on the word."

(The Bulls' physician, Dr. John Hefferon, said this week, "I'll tell Michael about it should it come up in conversation.")

The little girl with salmonella, by the way, is fine now. And Dr. Shulman, all medical concerns aside, said he hopes Jordan will come back and play again next year, "or maybe for the playoffs this year."

How big an honor is Salmonella mjordan? As Dr. Shulman pointed out, shoes become frayed, posters tear, basketballs deflate.

"But this bacterium," he said, "will be around forever."