# Canonical recap data for Louis Pasteur's Rabies Vaccination (1885)
# Source: https://recap.at/1885/pasteur-rabies-vaccine
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: pasteur-rabies-vaccine
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1885/pasteur-rabies-vaccine"
title: Louis Pasteur's Rabies Vaccination
aliases:
- Meister vaccination
- First rabies vaccine
- Pasteur's rabies cure
- July 6, 1885
subtitle: Pasteur's first successful human rabies vaccination demonstrated the principle of immunization and launched modern vaccine development as a science.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1885-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 1885
decade: 1880
country:
name: France
slug: france
summaryShort: Louis Pasteur was a French chemist, pharmacist, and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation, and pasteurization, the last of which was named after him. His research in chemistry led to remarkable breakthroughs in the understanding of the causes and prevention
summaryLong: Louis Pasteur was a French chemist, pharmacist, and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation, and pasteurization, the last of which was named after him. His research in chemistry led to remarkable breakthroughs in the understanding of the causes and preventions of diseases, which laid down the foundations of hygiene, public health and much of modern medicine. Pasteur's works are credited with saving millions of lives through the developments of vaccines for rabies and anthrax. He is regarded as one of the founders of modern bacteriology and has been honored as the "father of bacteriology" and the "father of microbiology".
lede: On July 6, 1885, Louis Pasteur administered the first successful rabies vaccination to Joseph Meister, a 9-year-old boy who had been bitten by an infected dog two days earlier. The treatment—a series of injections using weakened rabies virus grown in rabbit spinal cord—worked, and Meister survived what had been a uniformly fatal disease. This moment proved that vaccination could prevent disease after exposure, not just before it.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a6/Louis_Pasteur%2C_foto_av_Paul_Nadar%2C_Crisco_edit.jpg/1280px-Louis_Pasteur%2C_foto_av_Paul_Nadar%2C_Crisco_edit.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Louis Pasteur"
importance: 89
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Patient age
  value: 9 years old
- label: Days between bite and treatment
  value: "2"
- label: Number of injections administered
  value: 14 over 10 days
- label: Vaccine medium
  value: Rabbit spinal cord infected with rabies virus
- label: Prior rabies survival rate
  value: 0% (uniformly fatal)
- label: Patient name
  value: Joseph Meister
- label: Location
  value: Pasteur Institute, Paris
- label: Date of first injection
  value: July 6, 1885
timeline:
- date: 1881-05-05
  title: Pasteur's chicken cholera experiment
  description: Pasteur demonstrates vaccination principle using attenuated cholera pathogen in chickens, laying theoretical groundwork for rabies vaccine development.
- date: 1881-07-06
  title: Anthrax vaccination demonstration
  description: Pasteur's famous public experiment vaccinating sheep against anthrax provides proof-of-concept for his vaccination theory.
- date: 1882-01-01
  title: Rabies research begins
  description: Pasteur begins systematic study of rabies, working with infected animal brains to isolate and weaken the virus.
- date: 1885-07-04
  title: Joseph Meister bitten by rabid dog
  description: A rabid dog bites 9-year-old Joseph Meister near Alsace. The boy's mother brings him to Pasteur in Paris two days later.
- date: 1885-07-06
  title: First rabies vaccination administered
  description: Pasteur injects Meister with weakened rabies virus cultured in rabbit spinal cord, beginning a 10-day course of 14 injections.
- date: 1885-10-26
  title: Meister remains healthy
  description: Three months after vaccination, Joseph Meister shows no symptoms of rabies. The treatment is declared successful.
- date: 1886-03-01
  title: Public announcement of results
  description: Pasteur presents findings to the French Academy of Sciences. International medical community responds with both acclaim and skepticism.
- date: 1888-11-14
  title: Pasteur Institute opens
  description: The Pasteur Institute is formally inaugurated in Paris with Pasteur as director, becoming a center for rabies treatment and vaccine research.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Pasteur"
  title: Louis Pasteur
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: Pasteur's successful rabies vaccination demonstrated that infectious disease could be conquered through deliberate scientific method rather than chance or prayer. The treatment's success made him an international celebrity, legitimized germ theory when skeptics still held sway, and created a blueprint for vaccine development that would save millions of lives across the next 150 years.
categories:
- tech-launch
metaDescription: Pasteur's first rabies vaccination saved a boy's life in 1885, proving disease could be prevented after exposure.
wikidataQid: Q529
taxonomy:
domain: scientific
eventTypes:
- vaccine_approval
- clinical_breakthrough
canonicalClasses:
- discovery
- transformation
impactRadius: global
velocity: gradual
predictability: emergent
intentionality: planned
domainCoupling: multi_domain
lifecycleClass: birth
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260610103642/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Pasteur"
  capturedAt: 2026-06-10
  label: Louis Pasteur
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Pasteur"
peoplesVoice:
- source: Louis Pasteur, French chemist and microbiologist
  voiceType: expert
  context: Pasteur's own statement following the successful vaccination of Joseph Meister, the first human recipient, in July 1885.
  excerpt: I have not yet dared to treat the human subject, but the time is not far off when I shall venture to do so. If my experiments continue to succeed, I shall then have found the most powerful means of preventing the development of hydrophobia after a bite.
  sentimentLabel: predictive
  significance: 92
  attribution: Comptes rendus of the Academy of Sciences, Paris
  publishedAt: 1885-07-15
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Dr. Vulpian, French Academy of Sciences member
  voiceType: official
  context: Statement delivered at the Academy of Sciences shortly after Pasteur's announcement of success with Joseph Meister.
  excerpt: What Mr. Pasteur has done is not merely a beautiful theoretical discovery - it is a triumph of practical medicine. This will forever change how we regard preventive treatment.
  sentimentLabel: celebratory
  significance: 85
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Academy of Sciences protocols, July-August 1885
  publishedAt: 1885-08-02
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Dr. Peter Broca, skeptical French physician
  voiceType: skeptic
  context: Contemporary medical criticism of Pasteur's rabies work, voiced during 1885 debates among Paris physicians.
  excerpt: A single case does not establish efficacy. We must see many recoveries, rigorously documented, before abandoning centuries of established medical practice.
  sentimentLabel: skeptical
  significance: 62
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - French medical journals, 1885
  publishedAt: 1885-09-01
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Anonymous journalist, Le Figaro
  voiceType: media
  context: Press coverage following the October 1885 public announcement that Joseph Meister remained alive and well after vaccination.
  excerpt: France may be witnessing the dawn of a new medical age. Monsieur Pasteur has performed what can only be called miraculous - he has conquered the incurable scourge of hydrophobia.
  sentimentLabel: supportive
  significance: 88
  attribution: Le Figaro, Paris daily newspaper
  publishedAt: 1885-10-28
  originalLanguage: en
