Louis Pasteur · Science

Teaching the Body to Defend Itself

How Pasteur discovered that a germ could be weakened - attenuated - in the laboratory until it no longer caused disease but still trained the body to resist it, turning Jenner’s lucky cowpox into a general method for making vaccines on demand. From chicken cholera to anthrax to his triumph over rabies, he founded immunology.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned that Pasteur discovered how to attenuate (weaken) germs in culture to make vaccines, generalising Jenner’s cowpox into a deliberate method, and triumphed over anthrax and rabies. In your own words, explain what attenuation is, how the chicken-cholera accident revealed it, and why this founded the sci…

Leads to Edward Jenner.

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