The National Center for Reference and Research on Rabies, Pasteur Institute of Iran: An Unforgettable Name in the Health History of Rabies Control in the World

Rabies is a fatal zoonotic disease that usually occurs via infected animal saliva. Two years after establishing the Pasteur Institute of Iran, the National Center for Reference Research on Rabies, chaired by Dr. Mahdi Ghodsi, was formed to control and treat this disease in Iran. In 1955, Dr. Ghodsi, Dr. Balthazar, and Dr. Bahmanyar made a global transition in the rabies vaccination process. The rabies department was established in 1923. In 1976, it was selected to cooperate with the World Health Organization (WHO). Since 2013, according to ISO 15189, it was established as the rabies reference laboratory for the Ministry of Health and Medical Training and Veterinary Organization. For the 100th year of establishing the National Center for Reference Research on Rabies, this article reviews the history of the center and its activities, such as diagnostic tests of suspected samples of rabies, assessment of the effectiveness of rabies vaccine, and evaluation of rabies vaccine potency.