One of the other research fields of the Research Center for Emerging and Reemerging infectious diseases has been running researches on tularemia in Iran. Great research by Dr. Shamsa and his colleagues led to the first report of this disease among the domestic livestock and wildlife in Northwest and Eastern Iran. In this study, more than 4500 wild mammals, 200 sheep and cows were traced for the causative agent of tularemia in 47 locations in Iran. As a result, this study greatly contributed to the identification of wild mammals acting as reservoirs for many zoonotic diseases around the country. The studies about the epidemiology of tularemia continued in the years thereafter as well.

The first report of a human case of tularemia was in 1980 in Marivan, southwestern Kurdistan province.

Figure 10: the locations of sampling from domestic animals and small wild animals and regions where positive cases of tularemia were found, WHO bulletin, 1972.