Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) is probably best known for his discovery of pasteurization.
Few know that he also:
- developed the first rabies vaccine in 1884, a vaccine that was tested on and used to save the life of Joseph Meister, a 9-year-0ld boy who had been bitten by a rabid dog
- developed a vaccine against chicken cholera, the first live, attenuated vaccine, in 1879
- proposed the germ theory of disease in 1877
He also set up the Pasteur Institute, where two of his former assistants, including Emile Roux, discovered the diphtheria toxin (1888), which led to anti-serum treatments, among many other historic discoveries.
Louis Pasteur is truly the father of microbiology.
Tragically, but common for the time, he lost two of his daughters to typhoid, a now vaccine-preventable disease.
And just as there are some people who are so against vaccines that they might skip a rabies vaccines, even if they touch a bat that might be rabid or are bitten by a strange dog that can’t be quarantined, there are those that deny that germ theory is true.
For More Information On Louis Pasteur:
- Historical Perspectives A Centennial Celebration: Pasteur and the Modern Era of Immunization
- July 6, 1885: Rabies Vaccine Saves Boy — and Pasteur
- Louis Pasteur: One Step Away from Discovering Viruses
- Louis Pasteur: The man who led the fight against germs
- Pasteur Foundation Notable Discoveries
- History: Great myths die hard
- “I Reject Your Reality” – Germ Theory Denial and Other Curiosities
- Gobsmacked by germ theory denialism . Again.
- Germ Theory Denial