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Hantavirus and Ebola: improving understanding, prevention and preparedness in response to pandemics – Report on the visit by European Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva and Minister Philippe Baptiste and video of the Education Webinar on June 5
- Visit to the Institut Pasteur by European Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva and French Minister Philippe Baptiste
On June 17, 2026, Ekaterina Zaharieva, European Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, came to the Institut Pasteur for an official visit and a bilateral meeting with Philippe Baptiste, French Minister for Higher Education, Research and Space, focused on research and technological innovation.
Accompanied by Yasmine Belkaid, President of the Institut Pasteur, and Arnaud Fontanet, Head of the Epidemiology of Emerging Diseases Unit, the Commissioner and the Minister visited the members of the Laboratory for Urgent Response to Biological Threats (CIBU) led by Jean-Claude Manuguerra and the team in the National Reference Center (CNR) for Hantaviruses led by Virginie Sauvage. This was an opportunity to reflect on the multi-country hantavirus outbreak that occurred just over two months ago and the response by various bodies and experts, chief among them the Institut Pasteur's scientists. The discussions also focused on the Pasteur Pandemic Preparedness initiative (P3i), aimed at improving our understanding of past pandemics and outbreaks to prepare a coordinated, rapid and effective response for future pandemics.
The delegation also visited the Center for the Production and Infection of Anopheles (CEPIA), led by Sabine Thiberge. CEPIA is a facility for the large-scale production of Anopheles mosquitoes used for research, where scientists also study the interactions between Plasmodium, the parasite responsible for malaria, and its mammal or mosquito hosts.
The visit concluded with a tour of the crypt.
"Today I visited the Institut Pasteur with Yasmine Belkaid and Minister Philippe Baptiste. I could see with my own eyes the dedication of the scientists who tackle health challenges like the Hantavirus."
Ekaterina Zaharieva, European Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation
“From the crypt where Louis Pasteur lies in rest to the laboratories currently working on major health threats, everything here is focused on the same ambition: understanding the world to protect society more effectively.”
Philippe Baptiste, French Minister for Higher Education, Research and Space
- Video of the Education Webinar: "Understanding the hantavirus and Ebola crises"
On June 5, the Department of Education ran a webinar in French with two specialists in these viruses, Virginie Sauvage and Sylvain Baize, Directors of National Reference Centers with responsibility for health surveillance at national and international level.
Emerging infectious diseases are one of the major health threats of our time. Over the past three months, two viruses, hantavirus and Ebola, have emerged in very different circumstances. The chain of infection for the hantavirus outbreak appears to have been broken, but this is far from being the case for Ebola.
Find out more about these two viruses in this webinar:
What is their natural reservoir?
How are they transmitted?
What are the symptoms of the diseases they cause?
Can they cause an epidemic?
Virginie Sauvage is the Director of the National Reference Center for Hantaviruses at the Institut Pasteur in Paris. Her research focuses on the molecular characterization, detection and epidemiological surveillance of hantaviruses.
Sylvain Baize leads the Biology of Viral Emerging Infections Unit at the Institut Pasteur and the National Reference Center for Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers. He studies the molecular mechanisms of infection and immune responses to the Ebola and Marburg viruses.