On July 6, 1885, 8 year old Joseph Meister received the first rabies vaccination.

“As the death of this child appeared inevitable, I decided, not without deep and severe unease, as one can well imagine, to try on Joseph Meister the procedure which had consistently worked in dogs.”
Louis Pasteur

 

 

Louis Pasteur 1822-1895 – bicentennial of his birth
Released 2002 by France
Designer: Patrick Dérible, using photo by photographer Atelier Nadar
Engraver: Pierre Bara

Young Meister had been bitten 14 times by a rabid dog on July 4 at his home in Alsace.. His mother, Marie-Angélique, had heard of a doctor experimenting with rabid dogs and raced Joseph 400 km to Paris to see scientist Louis Pasteur. Two days later, medical colleagues encouraged him to use his new rabies vaccine on Joseph. If he didn’t, the young boy was facing a certain, painful death. That evening, the first injection of an attenuated rabies vaccine was performed, followed by 13 more between July 7 and July 16. This was a huge gamble. Up to this point, there was no effective treatment for rabies, and the vaccination had only been tried on dogs and rabbits.  

 

One hot July morning in 1885, feverish little Joseph Meister was dragged by his frantic mother through the streets of Paris in search of an unknown scientist who, according to rumors, could prevent rabies. For nine-year-old Joseph had been bitten in 14 places by a huge, mad dog and in a desperate attempt to cheat death, his mother had fled from their home town in Alsace to Paris. Early in the afternoon Mme Meister met a young physician in a hospital. “You mean Pasteur,” he said. “I’ll take you there.” 
Time magazine 1939
Who is Joseph Meister – VAXOPEDIA

Later Pasteur confessed to being racked with unease about administering his untested vaccine on a human, but doctors he worked with convinced him to try and save the boy’s life.. Against the odds, Joseph Meister lived. He was the first human to survive a bite by a rabid animal. Meister would go on to become a caretaker at the Pasteur Institute and live until 1940, when he tragically committed suicide when Nazis invaded Paris.. 

 

1885, the first rabies vaccination in humans | PNAS

Don’t forget to take a look at last year’s SOD – Australia’s longest cantilever bridge, Story Bridge officially opened July 6, 1940