The vaccine against anthrax and rabies by Louis Pasteur

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.