Rue des Professeurs Guérin et Calmette

“A serum against snake venom? Right here on Rue des Professeurs Guérin et Calmette?” a young voice piped up from the crowd. I smiled, acknowledging the budding curiosity. Yes, right here in Noisy-le-Sec, this street honors two men whose partnership saved countless lives. Rue des Professeurs Guérin et Calmette memorializes Albert Calmette and Camille Guérin, the brilliant minds behind the BCG vaccine. Calmette, a physician and bacteriologist, began his impressive career in the French Navy. He journeyed to far-flung places like Hong Kong and Vietnam. While in Saigon, he established a branch of the Pasteur Institute, conducting research on venoms and poisons. It was Calmette who developed the first antivenom for snake bites using immune sera from horses. This groundbreaking work laid the groundwork for his later collaborations. Back in France, at the Pasteur Institute in Lille, he met Camille Guérin, a veterinarian with a shared passion for research. Together, they embarked on a mission to conquer tuberculosis. Their partnership, a unique blend of medical and veterinary expertise, focused on developing a vaccine against this devastating disease. They cultivated the bovine tuberculosis bacillus, weakening it through successive cultures in a bile-glycerine medium. By 1921, after 230 subcultures, the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin, or BCG, vaccine was born. The first human trial, administered to a child at high risk of tuberculosis, proved successful. From Rue des Professeurs Guérin et Calmette, their legacy continues to protect millions worldwide. The BCG vaccine, born from their tireless dedication, remains a cornerstone of global tuberculosis prevention.