Joseph Meister (b. February 21 1876 - d. June 16 1940) was saved as a boy from rabies by Louis Pasteur and later served as a caretaker at the Pasteur Institute.

In 1885, the nine-year-old Meister was bitten by a rabid dog. Pasteur decided to treat the boy with a rabies virus grown in rabbits and weakened by drying, a treatment he had earlier tried on dogs. The treatment was successful and the boy did not develop rabies.

At the age of 64 Meister shot himself after he was unable to prevent the Wehrmacht from entering Pasteur’s crypt in 1940.

External links

• Pasteur's report about the treatment of Meister

Famous patients | Suicides by firearm | French children | 1876 births | 1940 deaths

Joseph Meister | Joseph Meister | Joseph Meister