I recall from my history of science that one of Pasteur's assistants accidentally injected rabies virus into his thigh. I was able to find only two links about this event, one in a book called "Who Goes First?: The Story of Self-experimentation in Medicine" where it states: "Jacques Grancher, the physician who gave the first injections of the vaccine to Meister, accidentally stuck his thigh with a syringe containing live rabies virus. Pasteur then immediately gave him rabies vaccine according to this book. https://www.amazon.com/Who-Goes-First-Self-Experimentation-Medicine/dp/0520212819 page 112

The other reference was also from a book that didn't give the name of the assistant but gave a similar story: "The needle jabbed into the assistant's leg. Pasteur's vaccine was based on the commonly held theory that resistance to a virus is built up by exposing the body to stronger and stronger doses of that virus. Therefore, the assistant had just injected a rather strong dose of rabies virus deep into his leg. The terrified assistant immediately asked to receive the full treatment." https://www.amazon.com/Scary-Medical-Stories-Marie-Noble/dp/1591942926 "The Fury of Rabies"

I find it odd that other historical sites fail to mention what I consider to be a rather important event. Especially if it resulted in SEVERAL patients being treated at once and not just Joseph Meister. My question is: Can anyone confirm if Jacques Grancher, MD actually did accidentally infect himself with rabies and was saved only by Pasteur's rabies vaccine? I don't mean to detract from Pasteur's contribution, but from what I recall, there was considerable debate as to whether young Meister was even eligible for the vaccination. Unlike what is commonly thought, it was not a sure thing he was even infected as th ebites had failed to pierce his skin: http://histclo.com/child/chron/mod/19/child-mei.html

And this brings into question another common tale that Pasteur and his assistants all agreed to being shot in the head with a bullet if they ever became infected. Gutsy I guess if it's true but the events with Dr. Grancher casts doubts on this story also.

I recall from my history of science that one of Louis Pasteur's assistants accidentally injected rabies virus into his own thigh. I was able to find only two links about this event:

1. A book called Who Goes First?: The Story of Self-experimentation in Medicine where it states (page 112):

Jacques Grancher, the physician who gave the first injections of the vaccine to Meister, accidentally stuck his thigh with a syringe containing live rabies virus.

Pasteur then immediately gave him rabies vaccine according to this book.

2. A book called Scary Medical Stories, that didn't give the name of the assistant but gave a similar story:

The needle jabbed into the assistant's leg. Pasteur's vaccine was based on the commonly held theory that resistance to a virus is built up by exposing the body to stronger and stronger doses of that virus. Therefore, the assistant had just injected a rather strong dose of rabies virus deep into his leg. The terrified assistant immediately asked to receive the full treatment.

I find it odd that other historical sites fail to mention what I consider to be a rather important event. Especially if it resulted in several patients being treated at once - not just Joseph Meister.

I don't mean to detract from Pasteur's contribution, but from what I recall, there was considerable debate as to whether young Meister was even eligible for the vaccination. Unlike what is commonly thought, it was not a sure thing he was even infected as the bites had failed to pierce his skin:

My question is: Did Jacques Grancher, MD accidentally infect himself with rabies?