Unfortunately, over the years, due to the lack of attention, the majority of this center’s buildings were damaged or destroyed, and needed to be repaired.
Figure 31: center’s destroyed or decaying buildings in 2010..
A new period of research activities focused on the center began in 2010 and research teams began two to three field missions focused on the center, annually.
In 2010, according to an agreement between Pasteur Institute of Iran, Center of Communicable Disease Control and Hamadan University of Medical Science, a new phase of research activities of this center was formed. The results of this research in this period were further reports about diseases like plague, tularemia and Q fever in Iran. After decades of lack of reporting about these diseases in rodents, wildlife and human, the surveillance system of these diseases formed again.
With the inauguration on May 12, 2012, construction of a new building and repair and rebuilding of old buildings began.
Figure 32: Dr. Seyyed Mustafa Pourtaghva, a former director of Pasteur Institute of Iran at the inauguration ceremony of the new building site, May 2012.
Using state and charitable funding in developing a program at the Akanlu Research Center, 280 square meters of old building was repaired and a laboratory and new buildings of about 340 square meters were constructed.
Starting repair and reconstruction of center’s building and its official reactivation in 2012, about 1500 square meters in the western side of village was dedicated to center by village’s council that its brick arranging has been done.
Following the center’s revival, broadband internet was accrued to Akanlu village and with infrastructure and landscaping of village’s road; accessibility to the center was easily achieved.
A serology laboratory, a molecular laboratory, a culture laboratory, a rodentology laboratory, a meeting room, a classroom, guest accommodation (with a capacity of 40 people in 9 suites), a restaurant, a kitchen, a caretaker’s home and a health museum are the additions to the center in the new phase of development activities.
Figure 33: Restoration of old buildings and construction of new laboratories in 2013.
In June 2013, a new period of center’s activity was inaugurated in the presence of the director, a number of members of the board of trustees, senior managers, a number of faculty and non-faculty staff and administrators and experts of Pasteur Institute of Iran, director and experts of Department of Health, Science and Technology and supported by the Ministry of Health, board of directors of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, the chairman, directors and senior manager of centre for communicable disease control, health assistants of five western medical universities, senior healthcare managers, ten faculty members of universities of medical sciences, the co-director of the WHO collaborating center for plague from the Pasteur Institute of Madagascar, the Deputy Director of Veterinary Organization, the research director of the Razi Vaccine & Serum Institute, a number of members of the faculty of Health at Tehran University of Medical Sciences and the governor of the city, the local authorities of Kabudrahang and the son and daughter of the former director of Pasteur Institute of Iran and founder of the center (Remi and Susan Baltazard).
Figure 34: opening of new phase of center in June 2013 with the attendance of national authorities and Dr. Baltazard's children.
Figure 35: Façade of center buildings in 2013.
Figure 36: Far view of Akanlu Research Center, 1963 and 2013.
Dr. Marcel Baltazard, Dr. Mansour Shamsa, Dr. Mahmood Bahmanyar, Dr. Younes Karimi, Dr. Biuk Seyyedian, Dr. Xavier Misonne and Mr. Mohammad Hanifi, experts of the research center in the past, and Manuchehr Gharagozlou and Haj Hussein Heydari were donors for the reconstruction of the site; their names has been placed on the buildings.