Rabies Vaccine Pasteur

About Rabies Vaccine Pasteur

Louis Pasteur developed the rabies vaccine in 1885. Pasteur attenuated the rabies virus by drying infected spinal cord tissue from rabbits. On July 6, 1885, Pasteur treated 9 year old Joseph Meister, who had been bitten by a rabid dog 14 times. The treatment involved 13 injections over 10 days with increasingly potent vaccine. Meister survived. Pasteur had never tested the vaccine on a human before. The success made Pasteur an international hero. Parents brought bitten children from across Europe and America to Paris. The Pasteur Institute was founded in 1887 to produce the vaccine and conduct research. Meister became the caretaker of the Pasteur Institute and died by suicide in Paris in 1940; the often repeated story that he did so rather than open Pasteurs crypt to German soldiers is not supported by historical evidence.