The Hantavirus NRC has been appointed by the French Ministry of Health, and more specifically by the Direction Générale de la Santé (DGS) on the recommendation of Santé Publique France (SpF), to ensure the microbiological surveillance of hantavirus infections.
For the period from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2027, the missions of the CNR des Hantavirus, as defined in the decree of March 2, 2022, were entrusted to the Environment and Infectious Risks unit of the Institut Pasteur in Paris by decree of December 30, 2022 (coordinating laboratory), with the virology laboratory of the Institut Pasteur de Guyane in Cayenne as an associated laboratory.
The specific missions of the CNR, as defined in the specifications of the call for applications (SpF – March 2022) are :
- Provide expertise:
- to participate in the development, evaluation and dissemination of serological and molecular diagnostic techniques for hantaviruses, including New World viruses, in liaison with laboratories in the French overseas departments (DFA),
- to provide its expertise to municipal and hospital biology laboratories for the diagnosis of hantavirus infections (confirmation of diagnosis, virus identification, sequencing)
- to develop collaborations with foreign laboratories, particularly at European level.
- Provide advice:
- to healthcare professionals,
- with the Agence Nationale de Santé Publique, other health safety agencies, the Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS) and the French Ministry of Health,
- by helping to develop measures to prevent and control hantavirus,
- by responding to requests for expert appraisals or surveys.
- Contribute to epidemiological surveillance, in conjunction with the national public health agency:
- by relying on a network of laboratories,
- by taking part in the investigation of grouped cases,
- by collaborating with structures in charge of animal surveillance.
- Contribute to alert
- by notifying the Institut de veille sanitaire of any unusual event: increase in the number of cases, appearance of grouped cases, change in clinical forms (distribution, change in clinical expression, unusual forms), introduction of a new serotype into the country, etc.