Center of Infectiology Charles Mérieux – Rodolphe Mérieux Laboratory (CICM/LRM)

The Charles Mérieux Center for Infectious Disease / Rodolphe Mérieux Laboratory was founded in April 2016. It is located in the western region of the Amazon rainforest within the clinical hospital of the State of Acre, Fundhacre, Brazil.

Mission

• Strengthening the regional commitment to research, molecular diagnosis, and treatment of tropical infectious diseases.
• Supports the clinic and develops new diagnostic tools that are not available in the public health system.

Organisation & infrastructures

The laboratory has a total of 400 m² of built area, divided into an administrative and a technical area. The technical area comprises approximately 250 m2 containing three BSL-2 laboratory rooms and one BSL-3 room. This BSL-3 is the only one in the state of Acre, capable of containing organisms with infectious potential.

Research activities

Study of lineage and variants of SARS-COV-2

More than 100,000 tests were carried out for patients and a study of the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 lineages was performed in partnership with other national agencies. The laboratory has advanced level studies of chronic hepatitis (HBV and HDV) and cutaneous leishmaniasis.

There is a good perspective for the next years to establish a surveillance program for emerging and resistant pathogens (AMR) in the hospital environment such as bacteria and yeast-like fungi, monitoring multidrug resistance (MDR) for tuberculosis, and investigate a prevalence of arboviruses (dengue, zika, chikungunya, mayaro, and oropuche) in the Amazon rainforest region.

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