On March 5, ANSES was designated as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reference center for brucellosis. Indeed, the FAO, following assessing ANSES’s main activities and skills, its level in the technical, scientific or general policy fields, and in view of the intensity and quality of previous collaborations, decided to award this international reference mandate to the Agency.
For ANSES and its Animal Health Laboratory, this constitutes significant recognition of the quality of its work and its commitment as a national and European reference body for this disease.
Considered a brucellosis
Due to its economic importance and the risk to human health, brucellosis is a major concern for national and international health organizations in charge of human or animal health.
At ANSES, the Maisons-Alfort Animal Health Laboratory is responsible for activities relating to brucellosis. Laboratory and national reference center, but also Reference Laboratory for the European Union and the OIE (World Organization for Animal Health), it is involved in the surveillance of animals and human cases in France and coordinates the activities of reference of a network of national and European laboratories. It also contributes to the development of prevention, surveillance and eradication strategies, in conjunction with national and international health organizations.
This reference mandate for brucellosis is the 5th of its type obtained by ANSES and opens up new prospects for collaboration between the Agency and bodies in FAO member countries.