Pasteur's Rabies Vaccine

Rabies is almost 100% fatal. It can affect any warm-blooded creature and is transferred by any bodily fluid – though most commonly by a bite that passes saliva from the infected animal to the blood of another.

It takes days or even months for the virus to incubate. But once active, it attacks the nervous system causing paralysis, coma and eventually death.

Rabies kills 60,000 people annually worldwide, mostly in Africa and Asia. Before the 19th century, it was far more deadly, because there was no treatment.

Then came Louis Pasteur. First, he invented the process to sterilize milk and other liquids, by heating them near boiling to kill bacteria.

Next, he focused on diseases, beginning with cholera. He cultured it in a lab, then discovered that chickens injected with older strains weren’t affected by the disease – and were immunized against new strains.

He developed a similar treatment for anthrax, which often infected livestock, then moved on to rabies.

He found that the dried spinal cords of animals killed by the disease contained a weak version that could be injected to immunize against the live virus.

Thanks to Pasteur, rabies has been almost completely eradicated in the US, with several organizations aiming for zero cases worldwide by 2030.

Do your part by vaccinating your pets, and yourself, if bitten, or traveling to areas where rabies is still endemic.