Michel Fustier
PASTEUR AND THE CHILD BITTEN
BY A RABID DOG
Louis Pasteur, who in fact was not a doctor but a chemist, is considered to
be the founder of modern medicine! …When the play begins, he is deep into
his research on rabies. But so far he has only tried his vaccine on dogs. One
day, a young boy who had just been bitten by a rabid dog is unexpectedly brought
to him. He hesitates, but in this emergency, takes the risk of treating him.
CHARACTERS
Joseph, the little boy bitten by a rabid dog
the mother of the little boy.
Doctor Grancher, a colleague of Pasteur.
Pasteur, Mrs Pasteur
1 - (in the waiting room of Pasteur's laboratory)
THE MOTHER - Is it here that… Well, I mean rabies?
Dr GRANCHER - You mean Mr. Pasteur's laboratory?
THE MOTHER - That's it: Mr. Pasteur. Paris is so big,! I've come from a long
way… My boy has been bitten by a rabid dog. Look, there are lots of bites,
very ugly ones… On his head, and his hands, and his legs… Fourteen
bites! Rabies, I am so frightened… We've come from Alsace, Mr Pasteur.
Dr GRANCHER - I'm not Mr. Pasteur. I am doctor Grancher, his colleague. Let
me see the child… Goodness gracious, not very encouraging!
THE MOTHER - Doctor Weber cauterised them, as he says, but… It's he who
sent us. He feels so much pain… My poor boy!
Dr GRANCHER - How long has it been since he was bitten?
THE MOTHER - It happened on Monday, at about four o'clock in the afternoon.
Dr GRANCHER - That's two days ago… Yes, I think that we'll be able to
do something. Wait for me here, I'm going to speak to Mr. Pasteur… You
know that Mr. Pasteur, who has successfully cured many dogs, still hesitates
to apply his treatment to people.
THE MOTHER - I don't know nothing. I just came. He is a nice boy, you know,
my Joseph. You should save him. They say that Mr. Pasteur is so good!
Dr GRANCHER – I'm going to speak to him. I'll be back in a minute…
2 - (same place)
PASTEUR – The answer is yes, madam, we accept trying our treatment on
your Joseph. Do you agree, sonny?
THE MOTHER - Of course, he agrees.
PASTEUR - Let him answer himself… Nine years old, he is a big boy now!
THE BOY - Yes Mr. Pasteur, I agree… Yes, I do agree…
PASTEUR - But before we cure you… Don’t worry, I am old and I limp
a little… I'm going to sit down. So, before doing anything we are going
to take two minutes to have a little chat. Joseph, I want you to understand
the situation thoroughly, since I need you to help me.
THE BOY - Yes, Mr. Pasteur, I will help you as much as I can.
PASTEUR - Well… You have been seriously bitten by a rabid dog… Yes,
we have proof that he was actually rabid, your doctor confirmed it.
THE MOTHER - He said that… I've brought the papers…
PASTEUR - Yes, I know. But rabies does not break out at once. Before you become
ill, we still have a little time… Well, let us say, the time for the dog's
foam, spreading through your body, to reach your brain, since rabies is an illness
of the nervous system… do you understand what I mean?
THE BOY - Yes, Mr. Pasteur. Is it really so slow?
PASTEUR - Yes, since… Well, it's very mysterious, all this. Even I, I
don't understand. The only thing we know is that there is a dormant period.
And it is during that dormant period that we'll try to outrun the sickness and
prevent it from entering your brain.
THE MOTHER - Oh! Thanks, Mr. Pasteur. Allow me to kiss your hands…
PASTEUR - No, no, it's too soon for that… Unfortunately, we don't know
exactly the length of the dormant period: usually from five to six weeks, sometimes
less. The more serious the wounds, the shorter the time.
THE MOTHER - You mean that the boy has too many bites?
PASTEUR - I just mean that I can give you no guarantees. You must know that…
And you too, Joseph, you must know that.
THE BOY - Well, Mr. Pasteur, I know it now… But never mind, I still agree.
PASTEUR - Then, we are going to vaccinate you. What is vaccination? It means
that, to prevent the great sickness, which kills, from breaking out, we are
going to give you a small sickness which does not kill but prepares the body
to overcome the great sickness which does kill.
THE MOTHER - Aren't you going to cause a lot more damage?
PASTEUR - It's rabies which kills, madam, not me! We'll be very careful, I mean
that the small sickness which protects will be given to him progressively by
making simple innocuous injections over ten days… I hope you'll not be
afraid!
THE BOY - Will it hurt much?
PASTEUR - No, the treatment is not painful, don't worry.
THE BOY - And then, what will happen?
PASTEUR - And then, when the great sickness, the one that the dog has given
you, reaches your brain, you'll be stronger than it and it will be unable to
enter. It will be defeated and you'll be cured… Perhaps!
THE BOY - Yes, I understand. I have to become strong enough to…
PASTEUR - Exactly. A vaccine is exactly what you have said: to become stronger
than the sickness. Still ready?
THE BOY - Yes, Mr. Pasteur.
3 – (same place, a few days later)
Mrs PASTEUR - Doctor Grancher, my husband is very tired. These ten days of waiting
have exhausted him… One mustn't forget that he himself is a sick man!
Dr GRANCHER - Dear madam, now that the injections are over, he can't do anything
more. Take him out of the house for rest.
Mrs PASTEUR - He will refuse!
Dr GRANCHER - But there is nothing more to do than to wait! Of course a six
weeks wait is a long time. But what else do you want to do? Look at little Joseph,
he is playing in the garden as if nothing had happened. His wounds are almost
healed… Madam, go to Arbois: your husband loves returning to his native
Jura… I'll keep you informed.
Mrs PASTEUR - Very well, I'll try to convince him…
4 – (in Pasteur's country house)
PASTEUR - This waiting is unbearable!
Mrs PASTEUR - Still the news is good. Doctor Grancher writes to us every two
or three days and his letters always come in due time… These French railways
work magnificently! Things are going very satisfactorily…
PASTEUR - Never in my life have I been so anxious.
Mrs PASTEUR - Please, darling, calm down. Summer here is magnificent, try to
enjoy it. Grancher has sent the child back home: he would never have done that
if he had felt that something was wrong.
PASTEUR - If I had made a mistake, if the vaccine didn't work on man, if it
could provoke unexpected reactions, if it could only delay the fatal outcome,
if it was going to make the sickness more virulent… I know, it's absurd…
No it's not absurd, Nature is so mysterious. Nobody has ever understood how
it works…
Mrs PASTEUR - If what you say were true, something abnormal would already have
happened.
PASTEUR - Maybe yes, maybe no… It is as if I had gambled my life on a
last throw of the dice. My life and his own… Did I have the right to do
what I did?
Mrs PASTEUR - He would have died if you had not done something… Now eight
weeks have elapsed – two more weeks than the usual time –, aren’t
you reassured? Anyhow the next letter will be decisive. I'll go and see whether
it has arrived… Here it is!
PASTEUR – Give it to me… (opening the letter and shaking while reading)
Aaaah… (long silence) Yes, everything is in order.
Mrs PASTEUR - God be praised!
PASTEUR - So I had the right to do what I did (pause). There is something in
me that is unwinding. And if it is true that the vaccine has cured Joseph Meister,
maybe we have made a step on the way which will allow humankind to overcome
infectious diseases. Then millions of people could be saved…
Mrs PASTEUR - You, my big stupid fellow, isn't that enough for you!
PASTEUR - Yes, quite enough. Come and kiss me, my darling…
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Pasteur lived from 1822 to 1895. He was originally a chemist, but his research
lead him to problems which were medical in nature and it is true that, although
not a doctor of medicine, he can be considered the founder of modern medicine.
He was interested in the illnesses caused by what were known as "microbes".
First of all, in order to supply answers to the problems of various trades,
he cured the diseases of wine, milk, beer… then later the diseases of
silk worms, sheep, hens…
In fact, when he was working on the disease called hen cholera, he made an observation
which guided him throughout his career… He had prepared, according to
his custom, a virus culture (this means that after isolating a virus he had
put it in a flask in which he kept it alive). Then, instead of using that virus
immediately, he went away on holiday. When he came back, he injected that virus
into hens, which, surprisingly, did not fall sick! That did not matter to him:
because the old virus was no longer active, the hens would receive a fresh one.
Still more surprisingly once again the hens did not fall sick …
Pasteur wondered about that, then, in a flash of genius, he understood that
his old virus had "vaccinated" the hens. This is the principle of
all vaccination: to inject into the patient an attenuated virus which afterwards
allows the organism to resist the attack of the more violent one. Later on,
he founded what is now called Pasteur's Institute, of worldwide reputation,
where numerous researchers discovered multiple vaccines against: cholera, whooping
cough, diphtheria, yellow fever, influenza, mumps, plague, tuberculosis, poliomyelitis,
rabies, measles, German measles, tetanus… Not to mention animal vaccines
such as foot-and-mouth disease and anthrax.
As "Pasteurian medicine" spread quickly all over the world, including
underdeveloped countries where many children were dying prematurely, it is easy
to understand the importance of the Pasteurian vaccine in the world. But, if
it saved many lives, it is also one of the causes of the huge demographic increase
whose consequences are now dramatically at work.
Non commercial use allowed. Reg. SACD - Michel Fustier, 4 Chambfort, 69 100
Villeurbanne, France. Tel: 00 33 (0)4 78 84 25 28.