It is observed to commemorate the scientific achievement of administering first vaccination against a zoonotic disease.
It was on July 6, 1885, when Louis Pasteur successfully administered the first vaccine against Rabies virus, a zoonotic disease.
He reduced mortality from puerperal fever, and created the first vaccines for rabies and anthrax.
He is best known to the general public for his invention of the technique of treating milk and wine to stop bacterial contamination, a process now called pasteurization.
Zoonoses are infectious diseases caused by bacteria, viruses and parasites that spread between animals and humans.
Zoonoses can spread from direct contact with animals or indirectly, vector-borne or food-borne.