World Rabies Day丨Many people used to die at the hands of mad dogs, until he appeared...

Today is September 28, the 16th World Rabies Day. Rabies is a deadly viral infectious disease with a very high mortality rate . But fortunately, this disease is preventable. We all know that we should get a rabies vaccine in time after being bitten by a cat or dog. So, who invented this vaccine?

Here I would like to introduce to you a scientist, his name is Louis Pasteur . Today's World Rabies Day is established to commemorate this French scientist who made the greatest contribution to the global prevention and control of rabies by inventing the rabies vaccine.

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In China, the free-range rate of dogs and cats is high, the number is large, and the distribution is wide, while the rabies vaccination rate is low. The dog immunization rate in rural areas is only 10%-20%, and cats are almost not immunized. In addition, China is a high-risk area for rabies . In life, when we encounter scratches or bites from unknown cats, dogs and other animals, we must get vaccinated against rabies as soon as possible . This is because rabies is an acute infectious disease that is shared by humans and animals. Once it breaks out, the mortality rate is almost 100%. According to data: The number of rabies cases in China in 2021 was 165, a decrease of 37 cases from 2020, a year-on-year decrease of 18.32% (data source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

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Louis Pasteur,

Who is it?

Louis Pasteur (December 27, 1822 - September 28, 1895) was a French microbiologist and chemist, and one of the founders of microbiology . He was the first scientist to create rabies and anthrax vaccines, and discovered yeast and lactic acid bacteria , laying the scientific foundation for the French wine industry. At the same time, the "pasteurization method" he developed has been used to this day. British biologist and writer Huxley once commented on the outstanding contribution of "pasteurization" - "In 1871, France paid Germany 500,000 francs in war reparations, but Pasteur's invention alone compensated for this huge loss."

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The famous saying "Science has no borders, but scientists have countries" also came from him, and he was also hailed as the "Father of Microbiology" by later generations.

Nightmare, deadly rabies

It can be said that the seed of research on rabies was planted in Pasteur's mind very early on.

In 19th century France, rabies was like a curse that claimed hundreds of lives every year. Since there was no vaccine at the time, in order to combat rabies, anyone bitten by an animal would be forcibly taken to a blacksmith's shop and have the blacksmith use a red-hot iron rod to burn the wound, hoping to "burn" the invisible demon to death and purify all things. However, such a cruel practice did not bring good results, and even only accelerated the arrival of death.

In 1804, German scientist Georg Gottfried Zinke infected rabbits and chickens with the saliva of mad dogs, thus opening the prelude to the study of rabies. Then in 1813, French doctors Francois Magendie and Gilbert Breschet confirmed that the disease had a similar course in humans and animals. However, people were still helpless against the disease until Pasteur appeared and completely changed this situation.

No hesitation, against rabies

Do your research!

In 1880, Pasteur, who had successfully developed a chicken cholera vaccine, received a boy bitten by a mad dog at noon one day. The boy was twitching constantly and eventually died of suffocation due to difficulty breathing. Seeing a living life withering in front of him, but being helpless, was a huge blow to Pasteur at the time, so he decided to devote himself to the study of this disease. He then extracted some mucus from the dead boy's mouth and injected it into two rabbits, which died soon. The same saliva extracted from the dead rabbit was re-injected into a new rabbit, which died as expected.

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In December 1880, a veterinarian brought two sick dogs to Pasteur for help and asked him if he could make a rabies vaccine for them. This marked the beginning of Pasteur's rabies research career.

In 1881, Pasteur injected the saliva of a sick dog into the brain of a healthy dog. Subsequently, the healthy dog ​​became ill and died. The experiment was repeated many times with the same result. Finally, they dried the spinal cord of a sick rabbit, mixed the dried spinal cord with distilled water and injected it into the dog's body. They found that the dog could survive.

Therefore, they reasonably inferred that this deadly toxin might exist in the nervous system . So Pasteur took out the rabbit's cerebrospinal fluid and conducted more than a hundred experiments in succession. After varying degrees of infection, a dog injected with the weakest virus finally recovered after 28 days. After a period of time, it was injected with the strongest virus again, and it successfully survived. The survival of this dog greatly strengthened Pasteur's confidence in developing a vaccine. In 1883, there were already four dogs immune to rabies virus in Pasteur's laboratory, which was probably the result of repeated inoculation of the virus.

Dawn, rabies vaccine is here!

On July 6, 1885, Joseph Meister, a 9-year-old boy bitten by a mad dog, was taken to the Pasteur Institute for treatment with multiple wounds. Looking at the boy and recalling the scene many years ago, Pasteur, after consulting Alfred Vulpian and another doctor, decided to inject him with the first human rabies vaccine. Meister received 13 vaccinations in 10 days. Although he had been bitten for 60 hours, he eventually recovered under Pasteur's treatment and later became the gatekeeper of the Pasteur Institute. During World War II in 1940, the German army occupied France and forced Meister to open the door of Pasteur's tomb. Meister firmly refused and committed suicide in anger to show his determination.

Three months later, Pasteur successfully treated Jean Baptiste Jupille, a 15-year-old shepherd boy who was bitten by a mad dog while trying to protect his companions. In order to commemorate the boy's heroic act and Pasteur's achievements, a statue of Pasteur was erected outside the Pasteur Institute.

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By then, Pasteur's rabies vaccine had become famous all over the world. By August 1886, as many as 1,235 people had received Pasteur's treatment, and only 3 people died. By October 1886, Pasteur had cured more than 2,500 patients, and the probability of treatment failure was 1/170. On October 23, 1887, Pasteur, who was overworked, suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and fell ill at his desk. In 1888, the French government established the Pasteur Institute in recognition of his outstanding contributions. Although he was already very weak at the time, he still served as the director of the institute himself.

In 1889, a mature rabies vaccine developed by the Pasteur Institute in France came into being and was widely used.

Pasteur died on September 28, 1895. It is understood that Pasteur completed his research in the second half of his life while in a state of hemiplegia.

World Rabies Day

To commemorate Pasteur's contribution to rabies prevention, World Rabies Day is set on the date of Pasteur's death - September 28th of each year.

2022 is the 200th anniversary of Pasteur's birth. Today, on the 16th World Rabies Day, we look back on Pasteur's life. Love, persistence and hard work have become his synonyms. Today, we are still fighting a continuous battle against various viruses. As he said, "Opportunities always come to those who are prepared." In today and the future when modern medical standards are constantly developing, we should believe that in the face of the current incurable and unknown diseases, we will one day be able to overcome and solve them. We need an optimistic attitude and a positive mindset to face life, and the spirit of Pasteur always inspires us to move forward.

References:

[1] ScienceNet. The glorious history of rabies virus [EB/OL]. (2011-12-12) (2022-09-16) https://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.phpmod=space&uid=460310&do=blog&id=517504

[2] ScienceNet. A review of the history of rabies and Pasteur’s contribution to it [EB/OL]. (2010-6-25) (2022-09-16) https://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-436870-338576.html

[3] Pasteur, by Patrice Debré, translated by Jiang Zhihui

[4] Louis Pasteur: Experiments, Contribution & Theory https://study.com/academy/lesson/louis-pasteur-experiments-contribution-theory.html

[5] Bordenave G. Louis Pasteur (1822-1895). Microbes Infect. 2003;5(6):553-560. doi:10.1016/s1286-4579(03)00075-3

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