The U.S. Public Health Service · Episode 25 of 34 · 50 min
Rabies: The Perfect Killer, Held at Bay (1885–2007)
Rabies is nearly 100 percent fatal once symptoms begin, yet fewer than ten Americans die of it a year. The gap came not from a cure but from a century of layered policy on top of Pasteur's 1885 vaccine: mandatory dog vaccination, animal control, post-exposure treatment, CDC surveillance, and millions of vaccine baits dropped from aircraft. The CDC declared the dog-maintained strain eliminated in 2007.
Who's who
- Louis Pasteur+1 more episodeFrench scientist who developed the first rabies vaccine in 1885
- Joseph MeisterBoy saved by Pasteur's post-exposure shots in 1885
Timeline
- July 6, 1885Pasteur vaccinates Joseph Meister after a rabid-dog attack
- 1940s-1950sMass dog vaccination and animal control drive canine rabies down
- 1970s-1990sRaccoon rabies spreads up the East Coast
- 1990sOral rabies vaccine baiting begins to contain wildlife rabies
- September 2007CDC declares dog-maintained rabies variant eliminated
Still debated
Rabies is controlled rather than eliminated, since it persists in wildlife and kills about 59,000 people worldwide each year. Credit is spread across state, local, USDA, and CDC efforts, and historians note the ethical edge of Pasteur's first human use.
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