Dr Adolph Hempt, founder and first director

Dr Milan Nikolić

HISTORY

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The first Pasteur Institute in Serbia, was founded in Nis in 1900. Its great work, mainly on rabies and variola vaccine production was stopped during the First World War: In the health policy of the Monarchy of Serbs, Croatians and Slovenians, the priority was given to the organization of preventive medicine. A great number of bacteriological laboratories, stations for desinfection, antituberculosis, antialchoholic and antitrachoma clinics were founded. Their work was coordinated by Central Hygienic Institute in Belgrade, founded in 1924. The Pasteur Institute in Nis was restored in 1928. and new ones were founded in Novi Sad and Cetinje.

The Pasteur Institute in Novi Sad, which was founded in 1921. became central in the Country in 1928, thanks to a new method of producing inactivated ether-phenol vaccine by Dr Adolph Hempt, the founder and it’s first director. Along with the improvement of human vaccination using his lypovaccine with live fix rabies virus. More than 50 years of permanent work of many generations of doctors and veterinarians, were necessary extinguish urban rabies finally in Yugoslavia. However, in the 70’s, the silvatic rabies began to spread so we have the similar inconvenient situation with permanent appearance of animal rabies in whole country.

Dr Milan Nicolich, Hempt’s successor, was second director of Pasteur Institute which was famous scientist in the Europe. He organized a industrial production of Hempt’s vaccine.