American pediatrician and microbiologist Hattie Alexander was born #OTD in 1901.
She is particularly renowned for her groundbreaking work on the treatment and prevention of Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib) infections, which cause meningitis, pneumonia, and other serious illnesses, especially in children. In the course of her research on antibiotics, she noted and reported the appearance of antibiotic-resistant strains of Hib which was caused by random genetic mutations in DNA.
#OTD in 1885.
Louis Pasteur successfully tests his vaccine against rabies on Joseph Meister, a boy who was bitten by a rabid dog. This vaccine bwas produced by growing the virus in rabbits, and then weakening it by drying the affected nerve tissue. The vaccine had been tested in 50 dogs before its first human trial. The treatment's success laid the foundations for the manufacture of many other vaccines.
American pediatrician and microbiologist Hattie Alexander died #OTD in 1968.
Alexander first became interested in influenzal meningitis. Experimenting with rabbit serums, by 1939 Alexander had developed an effective cure for influenzal meningitis. Her work with influenzal meningitis led her to study antibiotics, and she made considerable progress in understanding the genetic mutation of bacteria to develop resistance to antibiotics.
#OTD in 1683.
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek writes a letter to the Royal Society describing "animalcules", later known as protozoa. It gives the first detailed description of protists and bacteria living in a range of environments, sent by the author in a Dutch letter of the 9 Octob. 1676 concerning little animals by him observed in rain-well-sea & snow water; as also in water wherein pepper had lain infused.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protozoa
Original paper
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/epdf/10.1098/rstl.1677.0003
