Louis Pasteur, the French chemist who lived in the 19th century,
is famous for developing fundamental scientific concepts. He demonstrated the
process of fermentation and debunked spontaneous generation, an erroneous
belief that bacteria came from inanimate matter such as dust. Pasteur is also
recognized for his work on vaccines; he was the first scientist to use live
viruses in vaccinations. Pasteur’s work in infectious diseases was momentous
for the development of the rabies and anthrax vaccines specifically.
Rabies and anthrax are animal-born diseases that cause serious symptoms in
humans.
In 1880, Pasteur was conducting experiments with chickens to
determine the mechanisms of transmission of the bacteria responsible for fowl
cholera, which ended with many of them. Along with his assistant Charles
Chamberland, inoculated bacteria (Pasteurella multocida) chickens and
evaluating the disease process.
The story goes that Pasteur was going to take a vacation, and
instructed that inoculase Chamberland a group of chickens with a culture of the
bacteria, before leaving on holiday helper itself. But Chamberland forgot it,
and went on vacation. When they returned after a month, they were uninfected
chickens and cultivating bacteria continued where they left off, but very weak.
Chamberland inoculated chickens anyway and animals did not die. They developed
some symptoms, and a mild version of the disease, but survived.
The assistant, embarrassed, would kill animals and start again
when Pasteur stopped him: the idea of a weak version of the disease causing
immunity to the virulent simile was known since 1796 by Edward Jenner and
Pasteur was the so much. Chickens exposed again and again survived cholera as
immune response had developed. He called this technique vaccination in honor of
Edward Jenner. The difference between the vaccine Jenner and of Anthrax and
fowl cholera, is that these were the first artificially weakened pathogen vaccines.
From that moment there was no need to find suitable vaccines for bacteria, the
bacteria themselves disease could be weakened and vaccinated.
Pasteur put this discovery into practice almost immediately in
the case of other diseases caused by bacterial agents. In 1881, he made a
dramatic demonstration of the effectiveness of the anthrax vaccine, inoculating
half a flock of sheep while injecting the disease (Bacillus anthracis) to the
other half. The inoculated with the vaccine survived, the rest died.
In his studies against rabies, using rabbits infected with the
disease, and when they died drying her nerve tissue to weaken the pathogen that
causes it, we now know that it is a virus. In 1885 a boy, Joseph Meister, was
bitten by a rabid dog when Pasteur vaccine had only been tested with a few
dogs. The child would die without any doubt when developed the disease, but
Pasteur was not a doctor, so that if a vaccine was untested enough could lead
to a legal problem. However, after consulting with colleagues, the chemical was
decided to inoculate the vaccine to the boy. The treatment was a complete
success, the child recovered from injuries and never developed rabies, Pasteur
again was lauded as a hero.
To conclude the Pasteur developed vaccines have protected
millions, considering that germs cause disease revolutionized medical care, and
found new ways to make the foods we eat not to harm us.
Definitely, Pasteur was a chemist who changed our understanding
of biology in basic form. But also to step through your life, it becomes clear
that was at the forefront of a new branch of science: microbiology.
By: Valeria Velasquez C.
