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Biologics Regulation and ResearchThe People and Work of Buildings 29 & 29A

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In the 1880s Dr. Robert Koch discovered cholera bacteria, traveling from Germany to Egypt and India during outbreaks. They confirmed the bacteria during autopsies and concluded it was linked to infected water supplies. Koch also discovered that people infected with cholera were protected from it afterwards.

In 1885, Spanish doctor Jaime Ferran, who studied under Louis Pasteur (Koch’s rival), created the first cholera vaccine from working with live bacteria. He did a mass vaccination (50,000 people) during an outbreak in Spain.

Two scientists, Sawtschenko and Sabolotny, experimented with a killed cholera bacteria “broth” in 1893, which prevented cholera but was impractical because it required many doses.

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a frame from a film reading Cholera Can Be Conquered

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Video produced by Byron Motion Pictures around 1946 of the U.S. Navy in Calcutta, India to do a controlled experiment using chemotherapy against cholera. (Click the image above to be taken to the video)

There was an epidemic of cholera in Thailand in May 1958, and the World Health Organization, and Philippine and American officials sent vaccines and other aid to Thailand. The King and Queen of Thailand, Their Majesties King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit, were invited to attend the dedication ceremony of NIH Building 29, the newly built home of the Divisions of Biologics Standards (DBS), in June 1960 because of his majesty’s active role in the South East Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) Cholera Research Project. The SEATO Cholera Research Project formed in the wake of the epidemic.

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