From the Research
Louis Pasteur is the founder of the rabies vaccine, as evidenced by his groundbreaking work in 1885, which has been widely recognized and built upon in subsequent studies 1, 2. The development of the rabies vaccine by Louis Pasteur was a significant milestone in medical history, marking one of the first applications of the germ theory of disease and establishing the foundation for modern preventive medicine through vaccination.
Key Points
- Pasteur's work on the rabies vaccine involved repeatedly transferring the virus between rabbits to weaken (attenuate) the virus, making it possible to stimulate immunity without causing disease 1.
- His first human patient was Joseph Meister, a nine-year-old boy who had been severely bitten by a rabid dog, and the treatment involved a series of injections of increasingly virulent rabies-infected rabbit spinal cord material, administered over 10 days 2.
- The effectiveness of vaccination against rabies has been consistently demonstrated, with pre-exposure vaccination and prompt post-exposure vaccination being highly effective at preventing encephalitic disease 3, 4.
- The principal immunological correlate of protection produced by vaccination is neutralizing antibody, with T-helper cells contributing to the development of immunity, whereas cytotoxic T cells do not appear to play a role in protection and may actually be detrimental to the host 4. Some of the key aspects of the rabies vaccine and its development include:
- The use of tissue culture or cell culture origin vaccines, which are recommended over nerve tissue origin vaccines 3.
- The administration of rabies immune globulin in conjunction with the first dose of the rabies vaccine, as part of postexposure prophylaxis 3, 5.
- The importance of local wound management as an essential part of postexposure rabies prophylaxis 3.
- The need for pre-exposure immunization for individuals at risk of exposure to the virus, consisting of 3 doses of an approved rabies vaccine administered either intramuscularly or intradermally on days 0,7, and 21 or 28, with periodic booster doses or titre determination depending on the level of risk of potential exposure to the virus 3.