First Use of Pasteur's Antirabies Vaccine

First Use of Pasteur's Antirabies Vaccine

On July 6, 1885, French biologist and chemist Louis Pasteur successfully treated a patient with his antirabies vaccine. It was yet another success for the famous scientist, who is considered to be the father of the modern germ theory of disease and invented the process of pasteurization which made the consumption of ordinary drinking fluids such as milk much safer. Pasteur is also credited with having invented vaccines for a number of diseases, of which rabies is probably the most prominent example.

Rabies, once known more commonly as hydrophobia, is spread by the saliva of infected animals and attacks the centers of the nervous system in the body. Pasteur developed a vaccine by isolating a weakened form of the virus from the tissues of infected animals that could then be used to inoculate healthy people and make them immune from stronger virus attacks in the future. He first tested it on human beings when Joseph Meister, a young boy who had been bitten by a rabid dog, was brought by his mother to Pasteur's laboratory. On July 6, 1885, Pasteur administered the vaccine to the youth, and after 10 days he recovered in perfect health.

The vaccine was presented to the French Academy of Sciences on March 1, 1886, resulting in the creation of the Pasteur Institute in 1888 by the French government for the further study and treatment of rabies. Pasteur headed the new disease center until his death in 1895. It has remained active in the field of disease research to this day, and many thousands of people have benefitted from Pasteur's lifesaving vaccine.