Adolf Hempt

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[edit] Dr. Adolf Hempt (1874–1943)

Founder of the Pasteur Institute in Novi Sad, Serbia

He stabilised Pasteurs vaccine against rabies, so it could be distributed to distant places. His method of producing vaccines were used in all Central European countries, and vaccine against rabies has been produced according to his technology till 1989.

There is a street in Novi Sad named after him close to the institute he founded.

Was born in 1874 in Novi Sad (Then Austo-Hungarian Monarchy) as son of a Belgian Protestant missionary. Earned his medical diploma on the University of Gratz. He worked for some time as a military medic. During WW1 he was a commander of a hospital in Triest. After that he worked in Bosnia, and in 1921 he returned to Novi Sad accepting the invitation of the Serbian Minister of Health Andrija Stampar. Here he founded a Pasteur Institute and became the first director of the same. The institute was producing Pasteurs vaccine against rabies, and provided information to the people aboute prevention.

Dr Hempt published his modifications to the vaccine against rabies in 1925, which was accepted on a medical conference in Paris in 1927. After that the vaccine were produced according his technology all around Europe. This so called inactive or "dead vaccines" were produced in Europe to the end of 80s, and are still used in India and some developing countries.

[edit] How was Hempts vaccine better?

He used inactive rabies virus, thus reducing side effects and making the vaccine more safe. He also reduced the dosage neded. Pasteurs method lasted fifteen days taking one vaccine each day slowly increasing the dosage. Hempts inactive vaccine, since it doesn't contain living viruses, could be dosed in only six daily doses. It also was more stable, so could be stored and used on places distant from hospitals. e-mail: pasteuri@eunet.yu (Professor Dusan Lalosevic) Pasteur Institute in Novi Sad