First vaccines
What is a vaccine? A vaccine is a substance used to stimulate the production of antibodies and provide immunity against one or several diseases. Pasteur created the first vaccines for humans. His vaccines saved millions of lives by long-term prevention of disease.
When Louis began his work on rabies, it had already been discovered that the microbe that caused the disease was present in the saliva of its victims. Because madness is one of the symptoms of rabies, Louis reasoned that the microbe must attack the central nervous system.
Louis first studied the saliva of animals and humans who had died of rabies and confirmed the presence of a specific microbe, too small to be seen through a microscope, which we call a virus now. He then examined tissue from the brain and spinal cords of some of the victims and found the virus there too. Louis became certain it would be possible to make a vaccine using weakened strains of the disease-causing organism (attenuated vaccine) from a weakened strain of the virus.
A boy, Joseph, got bit and had rabies so Louis tried the vaccine on him. The bites went away and Louis had successfully developed a vaccine for use in humans from one made for animals. The developed of the rabies vaccine had saved thousands of lives and showed the way for the development of vaccines against many other diseases.
When Louis began his work on rabies, it had already been discovered that the microbe that caused the disease was present in the saliva of its victims. Because madness is one of the symptoms of rabies, Louis reasoned that the microbe must attack the central nervous system.
Louis first studied the saliva of animals and humans who had died of rabies and confirmed the presence of a specific microbe, too small to be seen through a microscope, which we call a virus now. He then examined tissue from the brain and spinal cords of some of the victims and found the virus there too. Louis became certain it would be possible to make a vaccine using weakened strains of the disease-causing organism (attenuated vaccine) from a weakened strain of the virus.
A boy, Joseph, got bit and had rabies so Louis tried the vaccine on him. The bites went away and Louis had successfully developed a vaccine for use in humans from one made for animals. The developed of the rabies vaccine had saved thousands of lives and showed the way for the development of vaccines against many other diseases.