Anses Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire Alimentation Environnement Travail

The Nancy laboratory, with 47 members of personnel, specialises in animal rabies and certain dominant and emerging zoonoses in wild animals, particularly alveolar echinococcosis.

It plays a part in monitoring the health of wild animals nationwide:
· it studies pathogenic agents (viruses and parasites)
· it monitors the emergence and/or spread of diseases, analyses their causes and assesses the health risks of some of them; it thus participates in gathering and interpreting data for monitoring the health of wild animals

As a WHO collaborating centre, it participates in the development and application of guidelines related to rabies and provides scientific opinions on the methods for controlling animal rabies.
As a National and Community Reference Laboratory for rabies, it provides scientific and technical support as well as expertise to European, French, and international health authorities and institutions.
As an OIE reference laboratory, it actively participates in the development and standardisation of diagnostic methods.

The laboratory has two research units, three departments and a test centre.

2 research units

· Epidemiological monitoring of diseases in wild animals and domestic carnivores

· Rabies and emerging diseases

Reference activities

· Zoonoses: WHO collaborating centre (research and management)
· Rabies serology: Community Reference Laboratory
· Rabies: OIE reference laboratory, National Reference Laboratory
· Echinococcosis: National Reference Laboratory

Types of analysis
· Diagnosis of rabies epidemiological monitoring
· Monitoring of the infection of bats by lyssavirus
· Epidemiological monitoring of rabies
· Titration of anti-rabies antibodies in dogs and cats vaccinated against rabies, and in foxes
· Vaccine control (oral and parenteral use)
· Analysis of tetracycline on fox teeth
· Diagnosis of echinococcosis in animals
· Serological analyses (haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome)

Inter-laboratory aptitude tests (ILATs)
Titration of neutralising anti-rabies antibodies technique

Main research programmes under way

· Rabies in bats in France: assessment of the pathogenicity of certain viruses circulating in France for domestic carnivores and foxes
· Development and standardisation of methods: rabies serology, echinococcosis diagnosis
· Alveolar echinococcosis: Tests on prevention methods, study of the role of dogs and cats in the cycle, assessment of carriage in urban foxes

May 2008

Principaux partenaires

·European Commission
·Directorate General for Food
·World Health Organisation (OMS)
·World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)
·Entente Rage et Zoonoses (ERZ)
·Office National de la Chasse et de la Faune Sauvage (ONCFS)
·Network of 54 international laboratories for rabies serology
·Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA, Weybridge)
·Franche-Comté University
·Institut Pasteur Paris and Lyon
·Conseil général de Meurthe-et-Moselle
·Conseil régional de Lorraine
·Communauté urbaine du Grand Nancy