In the visit of Dr. Shahnam Arshi, the Director of the Center for Communicable Diseases Control, and Dr. Ebrahim Ghaderi, the Director of the Surveillance Department at the Ministry of Health, to the Pasteur Institute of Iran, the fields of development of bilateral collaboration were explored.

After this meeting, the guests and the attendees visited national and collaborating reference laboratories of the Pasteur Institute of Iran. Dr. Arshi expressed his satisfaction with the role of the Pasteur Institute of Iran in the prompt and timely diagnosis of infectious diseases carried out by this Institute, and meanwhile emphasized the support of the Pasteur Institute in conducting practical research. He considered the activities of the Pasteur Institute of Iran very striking for the country over one hundred years ago, particularly in the domain of controlling infectious diseases, and praised the round-the-clock activities of the researchers of this institute, especially during the Covid-19 era and similar devastating epidemics.

Additionally, Dr. Mostafa Salehi-Vaziri, Deputy Director of Research, Technology and Education of the Pasteur Institute of Iran, meanwhile, emphasized the readiness of the Pasteur Institute of Iran to play a more strenuous role in monitoring, diagnosis and research relevant to infectious diseases and the continuation of the support of the Ministry of Health. Currently, in the field of infectious diseases, national reference laboratories and reference partner laboratories such as Pertussis & Diphtheria, Plague, Tularemia, Q fever, Arboviruses and Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers, Rabies, COVID-19, Malaria, Escherichia coli, Influenza, Hepatitis and AIDS are active at the Pasteur Institute of Iran. In the meantime, other health laboratories that are waiting to acquire a certificate of authority are also diligent in the institute, which includes Tuberculosis, Mycology, Leptospirosis, Leishmaniasis, Borrelia, Bartonella, and Rickettsia. The reference laboratory at the Pasteur Institute of Iran not only conducts diagnostic procedures for diseases but also carries out studies on these diseases that help improve the health conditions of the country.