The Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute connects a handsome early twentieth-century institution to practical public-health work. Its history links vaccine and serum production, rabies prevention, and snake-venom research with the Thai Red Cross’s continuing scientific and educational role.
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The institute’s story begins with a public-health problem: rabies could be fatal, and locally available vaccine production was needed. The Pasteur Institute opened in Bangkok in 1913; after Queen Saovabha’s death, King Vajiravudh supported a permanent institute in her memory, opened in 1922.
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UpgradeQuick facts
- The institute’s predecessor, the Pasteur Institute, was founded in 1913.
- Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute opened in 1922.
- The Thai Red Cross snake farm was established in 1923 to support antivenom work and education.
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