The Pasteur Institute of Nha Trang (

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

: ''Institut Pasteur de Nha Trang'', Vietnamese: ''Viện Pasteur Nha Trang'') is one of two

Institut Pasteur The Pasteur Institute (french: Institut Pasteur) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccine ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...

. Located in

Nha Trang Nha Trang ( or ; ) is a coastal city and capital of Khánh Hòa Province, on the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is bounded on the north by Ninh Hoà town, on the south by Cam Ranh city and on the west by Diên Khánh District. The city ha ...

, it was established during the French colonization of Vietnam. It operates directly under the authority of the Vietnamese Ministry of Health.

Early history

Established by

Alexandre Yersin Alexandre Emile Jean Yersin (22 September 1863 – 1 March 1943) was a Swiss-French physician and bacteriologist. He is remembered as the co-discoverer of the bacillus responsible for the bubonic plague or pest, which was later named in his ...

in 1895, it specialized in the study of animal disease, their prophylaxis and treatment. Yersin bought a 500 hectare property in Suoi Giao (about 20 km outside Nha Trang) on which to raise 600 goats, sheep, cattle and water buffalo, all needed for research at the institute. The property was cleared by Yersin and his

coolies A coolie (also spelled koelie, kuli, khuli, khulie, cooli, cooly, or quli) is a term for a low-wage labourer, typically of South Asian or East Asian descent. The word ''coolie'' was first popularized in the 16th century by European traders acros ...

, and they built stables for the research animals. Yersin hung a bell around the neck of each animal to keep local tigers from attacking them. Within a few years, veterinarians joined the researchers at the institute and developed an anti-plague serum for human use and several serum for use in cattle. In the first few years, Yersin and his team studied most of the local diseases commonly found in animals in

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...

, developing treatments and making them available to the local populace. The research was expensive; despite government subsidies and donations, he would have to find a local source of financing. Yersin introduced rubber trees (''

Hevea brasiliensis ''Hevea brasiliensis'', the Pará rubber tree, ''sharinga'' tree, seringueira, or most commonly, rubber tree or rubber plant, is a flowering plant belonging to the spurge family Euphorbiaceae originally native to the Amazon basin, but is now pa ...

'') to the property. The first crop planted in 1898 gave a latex harvest in 1904 (this was sold to the local

Michelin Michelin (; ; full name: ) is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes ''région'' of France. It is the second largest tyre manufacturer in the world behind Bridgestone and larg ...

producer). The rubber crop helped support the institute’s activities. (This property was bequeathed to the Nha Trang Institute after his death.) Ten years after the introduction of the rubber plants, Yersin introduced

Cinchona ''Cinchona'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae containing at least 23 species of trees and shrubs. All are native to the tropical Andean forests of western South America. A few species are reportedly nat ...

plants for the production of

quinine Quinine is a medication used to treat malaria and babesiosis. This includes the treatment of malaria due to '' Plasmodium falciparum'' that is resistant to chloroquine when artesunate is not available. While sometimes used for nocturnal leg ...

. His effort would take 20 years to give favourable results. After his death, Yersin was buried on the Suoi Giao property. An epidemic of

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...

came to Nha Trang in 1898 and was one of the first diseases studied at the institute. The Nha Trang facilities were placed under the supervision of the Pasteur Institute in Paris in 1904 and Yersin assumed the leadership of the facility that same year.

Later history

After the reunification of Vietnam in 1975, the Nha Trang facility was made into a provincial hygiene institute by the government. In 1990, Nha Trang rejoined the family of worldwide Pasteur Institutes. In 1992, scientists from Nha Trang traveled to Paris to study at the Pasteur Institute. In 1997, a museum dedicated to Alexandre Yersin was opened in Nha Trang, attracting many tourists. The institute is still conducting medical research.

References

{{Authority control Medical research institutes in Vietnam Nha Trang *Nha Trang