Illustration of Antivenom

1895 Antivenom

The book of science

Tom Sharp

Albert Calmette immunology Illustration of Antivenom

Antivenom

Louis Pasteur charged Albert Calmette in 1891 with founding a branch of the Pasteur Institure in Saigon where Calmette studied snake and bee venoms. Back in Paris and realizing that toxicology could learn from immunology, Calmette injected diluted cobra venom into horses. The immune response of the horses produced antibodies that were separated from the horses’ blood to create Calmette’s serum, the first antivenom.

Pasteur Institute

anthrax rabies smallpox typhoid gangrene influenza diphtheria syphilis bubonic plague tetanus tuberculosis leprosy typhus polio yellow fever

Cures for what ails

For the creation of the anti-fear vaccine we injected fear metabolics into rabbits but the rabbits’ immune systems, instead of creating antibodies, created only more fear metabolics. We experimented with means to create an anti-boredom vaccine, but the results were boring. Our anti-stupidity vaccine initially resulted in a 56% decrease in stupidity; however, the positive results did not continue after our patients left the clinic, but had the opposite effect— their egos outshining their curiosities. We learned from our mistakes, and began promoting pan-ethnic and pan-religious activities in preschools as an antidote to violence. A huge goal for this century inspires our scientists every day in their relentless search for a cure for war.

The Pasteur Institute has been a great force in our battle against infectious diseases. It was the first to isolate the virus that causes AIDS. Ten of its scientists have won Nobel prizes. The World Health Organization reports: “Immunization currently averts an estimated 2 to 3 million deaths every year.”

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