Rôle des vétérinaires dans la production du vaccin antivariolique en Belgique

Soon after the discovery of the smallpox vaccine by Edward Jenner in 1798, Guillaume De Manet, a physician from Ghent, used it in Belgium to protect his patients against smallpox. Unfortunately, this was only an isolated case and we have to wait until 1865 for doctor Warlomont of Brussels to import from France a heifer inoculated by the Italian vaccinal strain, which was perfected by Negri. The private institute founded by Warlomont became Belgian state property as early as 1868 and the institute was transferred at the Veterinary School of Cureghem in 1882 under the name of «Office vaccinogène central de l'Etat». For personal reasons, Warlomont refused the directorship of the new institute and this responsibility felt to Professor Degive, then in charge of the «Clinique des grands animaux». Warlomont did not disclose his production method of the vaccine and Degive had to create new techniques. When the School of Cureghem established itself in its new buildings in 1909-10, a special and totally isolated wing was built for the «Office vaccinogène» according to the norms established by Degive. It worked until 1965, when the Office was transferred in the rooms of the «Institut d'Hygiène et d'Epidémiologie». Since 1882, the production of the smallpox vaccine has continually been under the responsibility of veterinary surgeons. The directors of the «Office vaccinogène» were successively: Alphonse Degive, Guillaume Antoine, Charles Van Goidsenhoven, Fernand Schoenaers and Louis Bugyaki.