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Who is he? • Louis Pasteur was Born on December 27, 1822 in Dole, in the region of Jura, France. His father was a tanner, a person who prepares animal skins to be made into leather. The men in Pasteur's family had been tanners back to 1763, when his great-grandfather set up his own tanning business. Part of the tanning process relies on microbes (tiny living organisms). In tanning, microbes prepare the leather, allowing it to become soft and strong. Other common products such as beer, wine, bread, and cheese depend on microbes as well. • His discovery that most infectious diseases are caused by germs, known as the "germ theory of disease," is one of the most important in medical history. His work became the foundation for the science of microbiology, and a cornerstone of modern medicine.
What did he do? • Louis Pasture has created vaccines for rabies, anthrax, chicken cholera, and silkworm diseases. • He discovered that if our body is given a weak germ of a disease, the body will be able to fight off the real disease easier. • Louis also demonstrated that controlled heating of beet juice destroys yeast, and prevents fermentation. This process, called "pasteurization," was and is applied to preserve a number of foods such as cheese and milk. It also became the basis for dramatically reducing infection in the operating room. • In 1881 Pasteur had convincing evidence that gentle heating of anthrax bacilli could so weaken its strength that it could be used to inoculate animals. Inoculation is a process of introducing a weakened disease agent into the body. The body gets a mild form of the disease, but becomes immunized (strengthened against) the actual disease. Pasteur inoculated one group of sheep with the vaccine and left another untreated. He then injected both groups with the anthrax bacillus. The untreated sheep died and the treated sheep lived.
Why did he do what he did? • Pasture got interested in micro-organisms when he was young because tanning relied on tiny organisms to make the animal skins soft. • In 1865, a cholera epidemic hit Marseilles. Pasteur carried out a number of experiments in a hospital in the hope of finding the germ that caused this feared disease. He was not successful. • Pasteur and his team turned next to the disease of rabies. Most human victims of rabies died a painful death and the disease appeared to be getting more and more common in France. Though the team could not identify the germ, they did find that the rabies germ attacked the nervous system only after it had made its way to the brain. The team traced the germ to the brain and spinal cord of infected animals and by using dried spinal cords, they produced a vaccine for rabies. The vaccine was first tried out on animals.
Why did he do what he did? (continued) • But Pasteur faced a serious problem. What worked on animals might not work on humans. • In 1885, a young boy, Joseph Meister, had been bitten by a rabid dog, and was brought to Pasteur. The boy almost certainly would have died an agonizing death if nothing was done so Pasteur took the risk on using his untested vaccine. • The boy survived and Pasteur knew that he had found a vaccine for rabies. Three months later, when he examined Meister again, Pasteur reported that the boy was in good health.
How would the world be different if he had not made these discoveries and How has his Discoveries Changed the World? • If Louis Pasture had not made the breakthrough of vaccines, our population would be a lot smaller because his discoveries ,of vaccines, have helped our world with the flu shot, tetanus shot, polio, and other epidemics that we have needed a vaccine for. • If Louis Pasture had not uncovered the mysteries of “pasteurization.” Without pasteurization microbes in our milk could hurt us and we could get very sick. • Louis Pasture has had a great effect on the healthiness of our food and our safety from diseases.
Bibliography • http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ni-Pe/Pasteur-Louis.html • http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/95dec/pasteur.html • http://www.accessexcellence.org/RC/AB/BC/Louis_Pasteur.php
