Research focus: Pasteur Institute of Dakar

Abstract

From yellow fever to COVID-19, the Pasteur Institute of Dakar has been leading African health research and response. Talha Burki reports. Building on Pasteur's legacy: producing vaccines in AfricaLouis Pasteur's legacy of translating scientific knowledge on vaccines to create a healthier world resonates with his comment that “Science knows no country because knowledge belongs to humanity, and is the torch which illuminates the world. Science is the highest personification of the nation because that nation will remain the first which carries the furthest the works of thought and intelligence.”1 However, during the COVID-19 pandemic vaccine knowledge has not belonged to humanity, leading to global vaccine inequity2 and attempts to obstruct Africa, the world's poorest continent, from manufacturing mRNA vaccines for those most in need. Full-Text PDF Science knows no country: fulfilling Louis Pasteur's legacy2022 marks the bicentenary of Louis Pasteur's birth. Pasteur's discoveries helped lay the foundation of modern public health, microbiology, and medicine. His legacy echoes in the many streets, schools, and hospitals that bear his name, and in the widespread use of pasteurised food worldwide. After his pioneering work on veterinary vaccines, Pasteur developed the rabies vaccine for humans in 1885, the success of which led to the foundation of a dedicated institute in Paris, France.1 The Institut Pasteur was registered in 1887 as a private foundation of public utility, and its statutes state that the institute's dual purposes were “the treatment of rabies according to the method developed by M. Full-Text PDF Louis Pasteur, COVID-19, and the social challenges of epidemicsDecember, 2022, will see two notable anniversaries: the 200th anniversary of the birth of Louis Pasteur and the third anniversary of China's announcement of the outbreak that would lead to the COVID-19 pandemic. These coinciding events provide an opportunity to reflect on past and current global challenges to bring epidemics under control. Pasteur himself was inextricably connected with a late 19th-century social hygienist movement to promote the health of populations and cities.1 With other noteworthy scientists, including Robert Koch, Agostino Bassi, and Joseph Lister, Pasteur helped to generate a new field of microbiology, developing new knowledge on fermentation, biogenesis, and germ theory. Full-Text PDF Pasteur's legacy in 21st century medicineThe Lancet bids 2022 adieu with a commemoration of Louis Pasteur. Born in France on Dec 27, 1822, Pasteur was a young polymath when he embarked on a path of discovery with profound societal relevance. By the age of 40 years, he was a national hero and an international authority on microbiology, vaccines, and immunology. His germ theory of disease laid the foundation for hygiene and sanitation within public and global health. He developed the first vaccine against human rabies in 1885. Along with other great scientists of his time, Pasteur shaped scientific reasoning and communication for the better, creating a legacy that catalysed progress in human health that has been sustained for the past 150 years. Full-Text PDF