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Pasteur And Vaccination
By peace | October 1, 2011
Louis Pasteur Vaccinating Sheep (1881)
The above picture shows Louis Pasteur vaccinating sheep during his experiment in 1881.
In the 1800s, the disease anthrax was sweeping through France, killing thousands of cows and sheep. In each animal, the multiplying bacteria created blistering boils on the skin. It also poisoned the blood. In 1873, a German scientist, Robert Koch, had spotted multiplying microbes in the blood of animals that had died from anthrax. It was not in the blood of healthy animals. Koch realised that it was the microbe that caused the anthrax. But would it be possible to produce a vaccine?
Louis Pasteur was sure that he and his assistants could make a vaccine. But it was not easy. They spent months trying to grow a form of the bacteria that was weak enough to use as a vaccine. At last, Pasteur found a method to create a safe culture. After tests in the laboratory, he was ready to show his new vaccine to the world.
On 5 May 1881, crowds gathered at a farm near the French town of Melun to see Pasteur demonstrate his possible cure for anthrax. Pasteur appeared confident but was probably nervous in front of the doubtful crowd. They watched him begin his experiment:
Stage 1 (5-17 May): 25 of 50 sheep were given the vaccine.
Stage 2 (31 May): all 50 sheep were injected with anthrax.
On 1 June a worried Pasteur paced up and down his laboratory in Paris waiting for the vaccine results. After a sleepless night, he received a note from the farm. It said that 18 of the non-vaccinated sheep had died, and all the vaccinated sheep were alive. “A tremendous success”, it said. 60 years old Pasteur was delighted and relieved.
Pasteur is particularly renowned for his work on the vaccine for rabies, a highly contagious infection which attacks the central nervous system. It enters the body through the bite of an infected animal or through infected saliva entering an existing wound. After experimenting with the saliva of animals suffering from the disease, Pasteur concluded that the disease rests in the central nervous system of the body. When an extract from the spinal column of an rabid dog was injected into healthy animals symptoms of rabies were produced. By studying the tissues of infected animals- rabbits, Pasteur was able to produce an attenuated form of the virus. This could be used for inoculation.
On July 6 1885, Pasteur tested his pioneering rabies vaccine on man for the first time. He saved the life of a young man called Joseph Meister who had been bitten by a rabid dog. Pasteur was urged to treat him with his new method. The treatment lasted 10 days and at the end he recovered and remained healthy. Since then thousands have been saved by this treatment.
On March 1886, Pasteur was invited to present his results to the Academy of Sciences and in 1888 went on to found the Pasteur Institute in Paris. This was a pioneering clinic for the study of infectious diseases, the treatment of rabies and a centre for teaching. Pasteur directed the Institute personally until he died. The Pasteur Institute is still one of the most important centres in the world.
Pasteur became a national hero and was honoured in many ways. He died at Saint-Cloud on 28 September 1895 and was given a state funeral at the Cathedral of Notre Dame and his body placed in a permanent crypt at the Pasteur Institute.
Modifications of the Pasteur method are still used in rabies therapy today. The traditional vaccine contains inactivated rabies virus grown in duck eggs. A newer vaccine which contains virus prepared from human cells grown in the laboratory is safer and requires a shorter course of injections.
More Links about Louis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur Timeline
Germs Everywhere
Tragedies of Louis Pasteur
http://www.zephyrus.co.uk/louispasteur.html
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