Research Centre for Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases

The Research Centre for Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases is part of the Pasteur Institute of Iran.

It is the National Reference Laboratory for Plague, Tularemia, and Q Fever.

The history of the foundation of Pasteur Institute of Iran One year after World War I and despite the persistent problems caused by casualties and infectious diseases in the country resulting from war, the Iranian government decided to renew its relationship with France to promote medical sciences and research concerning different types of endemic infectious diseases. The Iranian delegates met Pierre Paul Émile Roux, the general director of the Pasteur Institute of Paris, in 1919 and this visit laid the foundation of Pasteur Institute of Iran.

On 20 January 1921, Professor René Legroux, the leading delegate of the Pasteur Institute of Paris, signed a memorandum of understanding with the minister for foreign affairs of Iran and as a result, Pasteur Institute of Iran was established. Pasteur Institute of Iran was the tenth Pasteur Institute formed worldwide. Moreover, Pasteur Institute of Iran formally started its activity on 23 August 1921. Due to World War II, the relationship between the Pasteur Institutes in Iran and Paris was interrupted (from 1939 to 1945). Before the war, when the number of laboratories was limited and their activities failed to meet the needs of the country, most of the national health issues related to the ministry of health were addressed by Pasteur Institute of Iran.

The history of plague in Iran Iranian physicians were familiar with the human plague for a long time. Although there is little information about the situation of plague from earlier centuries, we have more documented evidence from the 19th and 20th centuries. During the Qajar dynasty (1895 to 1925), cholera and plague were the most frequently documented outbreaks. Such lethal diseases were not hard to imagine considering the poor hygiene and lack of knowledge about the root of transmission, prevention and effective treatment of that time. Several plague outbreaks took place during the Qajar dynasty in Iran. In 1871, a severe form of plague outbreak happened in Saghez and Bane (two cities in Kurdistan province) and the Iranian and non-Iranian physicians, such as Dr. Johan Louis Schlimmer, the instructor in the Darolfonun School, were appointed to control this disease. Dr. Schlimmer noted his observations in his book, "Schlimmer's Terminology", published in 1874.Schlimmer, J.L., Terminologie medico-pharmaceutique et anthropologique Francaise-Persane: avec traductions Anglaise et Allemande des termes Français, indications des lieux de provenance des principaux produits animaux et végétaux. 1874: Lithographie d'Ali Gouli Khan. The first Iranian physician who registered his observations about plague using modern medical science was Mohammad Razi Tabatabai, the senior physician in Naser al-Din Shah's army; his book was published under the title "Plague" in 1875. Dr. Joseph Desire Tholozan, (1820 to 1897), the royal physician of Naser Al-din Shah and the head of the ministry of health at that time, evaluated the main and natural foci of plague in Kurdistan between 1870 and 1882 and found certain foci for the disease in various villages of that area.Theodorides, J., Un grand épidémiologiste franco-mauricien: Joseph Désiré Tholoza (1820-1897). Bulletin de la Société de pathologie exotique, 1998. 91(1): pp. 104-108.Mollaret, H., [Tholozan and plague in Persia]. Histoire des sciences médicales, 1998. 32(3): pp. 297-300.

Akanlu and plague In 1946, together with the new program of activities of Pasteur Institute of Iran, the epidemiology department of Pasteur Institute of Iran started its activities under the supervision of Dr. Baltazard, the general director of the institute. They started their mission in Northwest of Iran and attempted to prepare an epidemiological map of infectious diseases of the country using a portable laboratory in a truck.Baltazard, M., L'Institut Pasteur de l'Iran vu par. 2004, Theran: Fascicule édité par le service de coopération et d'action culturelle de l'ambassade de France en R I d'Iran à l'occasion de l'inauguration du pavillon Baltazard de l'Institut Pasteur d'Iran. It later became more practical after they were equipped with professional cars. Although Kurdistan had a history of plague, it was due to the plague outbreak in Kurdistan in the same year that for the first time the research teams were dispatched to an area in which they could control the outbreak via quarantining the foci and epidemiological procedures on the humans and rodents. Studies of the plague foci in this region and the importance of this disease motivated Dr. Baltazard, Dr. Shamsa, Dr. Karimi, Dr. Habibi, Dr. Bahmanyar, Dr. Agha Eftekhari, Dr. Farhang Azad, Dr. Seyyedian and Dr. Majd Teymouri to conduct extensive scientific and epidemiologic studies after educating expert technicians and providing sufficient facilities.Rezvan H, et al., A preliminary study on the prevalence of anti-HCV amongst healthy blood donors in Iran. Vox Sang, 1994. 67 ((suppl): 100.). 6. Mollaret, H., et al., La peste de fouissement. Bull Soc Pathol Exot, 1963. 56: pp. 1186-1193.

During the nine plague outbreaks in Kurdistan and Azerbaijan between 1946 and 1965, many infected people survived from the disease by the efforts of the dispatched teams of Pasteur Institute of Iran; however, 156 died. In 1952, the first plague laboratory was founded in Akanlu village, near the epicenter of plague in Kurdistan, Iran, on a piece of land bestowed by Manuchehr Gharagozlou, an Iranian friend of Dr. Baltazard. At this research center, currently called "The Research Center for Emerging and Reemerging infectious diseases", Dr. Baltazard and his perseverant colleagues conducted extensive research on plague and established this center as one of the international references for plague. Since 1952, research teams could base themselves in the area for months at a time and conduct detailed research on rodents under more favorable conditions. They were no longer required to carry their equipment throughout their missions. During those years, the integration of field and laboratory collaborations was a key to effective epidemiological actions and led to great research hypotheses. The extensive research by the teams of Pasteur Institute of Iran showed that rodents of the two types Meriones Persicus and Meriones libycus were the main natural reservoirs, unlike their resistance to plague; accordingly, they first proposed that the main reservoir of a disease should be sought amongst the most resistant, not the most sensitive, and such a theory is now accepted as a scientific fact. They also presented their scientific qualifications by publishing several scientific articles.Mollaret, H., et al., La peste de fouissement. Bull Soc Pathol Exot, 1963. 56: pp. 1186-1193.Mollaret, H., et al. On the Urease of Yersin's Bacillus. 1964.Baltazard, M., et al., C. Interepizootic conservation of the plague in inveterate reservoir. Hypotheses and work. 1963. Bulletin de la Société de pathologie exotique (1990), 2004. 97: p. 72.Karimi, Y., et al., Sur le purpura hémorragique observé dans l'Azarbaidjan-Est de l'Iran. Médecine et Maladies Infectieuses, 1976. 6(10): pp. 399-404. During the development of this research center, many international scientists visited the center, lecturing, studying and/or researching in their fields. In particular, Dr. Xavier Misonne, a Belgian rodentologist who investigated rodent life in IranMissone, X., The Cambridge History of Iran, vol. I. The Land of Iran, in Arts asiatiques. 1968, Cambridge University Press. pp. 294-304. and Dr. Jean Marie Klein, an entomologist, who conducted extensive research on fleas in the Akanlu center, played important roles.Sureau, P. and J. Klein, [Arboviruses in Iran (author's transl)]. Médecine tropicale: revue du Corps de santé colonial, 1979. 40(5): pp. 549-554.Sureau, P., et al., Isolation of Thogoto, Wad Medani, Wanowrie and Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever viruses from ticks of domestic animals in Iran. Annales de Virologie, E, 1980. 131(2): pp. 185-200. In addition, the aerial photographs of Kurdistan and Hamadan were obtained from Iran's army and rodents' locations and the infection were mapped and reported and the first foundations of GIS were set. The research team carefully concentrated on the epizootic trend of the region. The achievements of Pasteur Institute of Iran regarding plague research attracted global attention and such a success motivated them to assign Iranians international plague research. The experts and researchers of Pasteur Institute of Iran, known as WHO experts, continued to conduct related research in many neighboring countries such as Turkey, Syria,Baltazard, M., et al., The Interepizootic Preservation of Plague in an Inveterate Focus. Working Hypotheses. Bulletin de la SociÊtÊ de pathologie exotique et de ses filiales. 56: p. 1230. Iraq and Yemen,Bahmanyar, M., Human plague episode in the district of Khawlan, Yemen. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 1972. 21(1): p. 123. Southeast Asia (India,Baltazard, M. and M. Bahmanyar, Research on plague in India. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 1960. 23: p. 169. Indonesia,Baltazard, M. and M. Bahmanyar, Research on plague in Java. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 1960. 23: p. 217. Thailand), Burma,Bahmanyar, M., Assignment report on plague control in Burma, 7–18 November 1970. 1971.Bahmanyar, M., Assignment report on epidemiology and control of plague in Burma, 9 November 1968-13 April 1969. 1970. Brazil,Karimi, Y., C. de Almeida, and A. de Almeida, The experimental plague in rodents in Brazil. Epidemiological deductions. Bulletin de la SociÊtÊ de pathologie exotique et de ses filiales. 67(6): p. 591.Karimi, Y., M. Eftekhari, and C. de Almeida, On the ecology of fleas implicated in the epidemiology of plague and the possible role of certain hematophagus insects in its transmission in north-east Brazil. Bulletin de la SociÊtÊ de pathologie exotique et de ses filiales. 67(6): p. 583.Karimi, Y., et al. Characteristics of strains of Yersinia pestis isolated in the northeastern part of Brazil.Karimi, Y., et al., Particularités des souches de Yersinia pestis isolés dans le nord-est du Brésil. Ann Inst Pasteur Microbiol 125A, 1974: pp. 213-216. and Africa (Zaire, Tanzania);Karimi, Y. and A. Farhang-Azad, [Pulex irritans, a human flea in the plaque infection focus at General Mobutu Lakd region (formerly Lake Albert): epidemiologic significance]. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 1974. 50(6): p. 564. they published all of their research results to be used by others.Karimi, Y., C. Rodrigues de Almeida, and F. Petter, Note sur les rongeurs du nord-est du Brésil. Mammalia, 1976. 40(2): pp. 257-266.Rust Jr, J., et al., The role of domestic animals in the epidemiology of plague. II. Antibody to Yersinia pestis in sera of dogs and cats. The Journal of Infectious Diseases, 1971. 124(5): pp. 527-531.Baltazard, M. and B. Seydian, Investigation of plague conditions in the Middle East. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 1960. 23: p. 157.Baltazard, M., et al., Kurdistan plague focus. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 1952. 5(4): p. 441.Karimi, Y., H. Teymori, and M. Eftekhari, Détermination des foyers natrirels de la peste par I’dtude sérologique chez les renards de l’Iran. Cong. Int. Méd. Trop., AthBnes,, 1973: p. 53. Most of this research was financially supported by WHO.