French Chemist Louis Pasteur

In 1885, Louis Pasteur achieved a major medical milestone by successfully using a Rabies Vaccine to treat a young boy who had been bitten by a rabid dog. This event marked a turning point in both the understanding of infectious diseases and the development of immunization.

Date of Event: July 6, 1885

The Patient:

• Name: Joseph Meister

• Age: 9 years old

• Hometown: Alsace, France

• Incident: Bitten multiple times by a rabid dog on July 4, 1885

Pasteur's Involvement:

Although not a medical doctor, Louis Pasteur had been working extensively on vaccines, including for anthrax and rabies. At the time, rabies was almost universally fatal once symptoms developed, and there were no effective treatments.

Pasteur had developed a rabies vaccine using a weakened (attenuated) form of the virus. The process involved drying the spinal cords of infected rabbits for various lengths of time to weaken the virus.

The Treatment:

• Joseph Meister received a series of 13 injections over 11 days

• Each injection contained a preparation of the attenuated virus, with increasing virulence as the treatment progressed

• The goal was to stimulate the boy’s immune system to develop protection before the rabies virus could reach his central nervous system

Outcome:

• Joseph Meister survived and never developed rabies

• The success was seen as a miracle of modern medicine at the time

• It was the first time a human had been treated with a vaccine after exposure to a deadly disease and survived

Impact:

• Pasteur’s success was widely publicized and praised

• It led to the establishment of the Pasteur Institute in Paris in 1888, which became a leading center for research in infectious diseases

• It helped lay the foundation for modern virology and immunology

Legacy:

Joseph Meister later worked as a caretaker at the Pasteur Institute. Pasteur, deeply moved by Meister’s case, is said to have requested to be buried in the institute, and Joseph Meister is buried nearby.