“The next pandemic will come. We just don’t know when or what pathogen will cause it, but we can be better prepared.” Friedrich Schmoll, Head of Animal Health at AGES, made this statement at the ground-breaking ceremony in March 2023. Today, AGES’s ‘Zoonoses Centre’ was opened in Mödling, and Austria is now a step better prepared: across an area of around 2,200 square metres, ARE Austrian Real Estate has built five laboratory units with their own airlocks and four multi-purpose rooms for AGES. “As the COVID-19 pandemic has shown, new pathogens can spread in the blink of an eye in our globally interconnected world. One of the lessons we have learnt from this is that prevention begins before the next health crisis. That is why I am delighted to open the AGES zoonoses laboratory today as a key component of the One Health infrastructure,” said Health Minister Korinna Schumann.
Six out of ten pathogens originate from the animal kingdom
Around 60 per cent of all human pathogens are zoonoses, meaning they can be transmitted between animals and humans. Thanks to modern medicine, diagnostics, prevention and treatment, classic zoonoses such as brucellosis or rabies now play only a limited local role in Europe – but they could be reintroduced into Austria. New pathogens, however, can emerge at any time and spread rapidly. The new zoonoses laboratory enables work to be carried out under the highest safety standards, including Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) conditions in both the laboratory and animal facilities.
“Here, we can research and investigate pathogens that can cause serious illnesses in humans and animals, such as SARS-CoV-2, the rabies virus, highly pathogenic influenza A viruses or bacteria that cause tuberculosis, brucellosis or Q fever,” explains Johannes Pleiner-Duxneuner, Technical Director of AGES. In addition, vectors such as mosquitoes, ticks and midges can be tested for pathogens, which are increasingly reaching Austria as a result of climate change. For instance, the West Nile virus is continuing to spread across Europe, with record numbers of cases in both humans and animals. In the animal sector, new diseases such as the Shamonda virus are coming into focus. “To identify and assess such developments at an early stage and to be prepared for them, we need modern One Health infrastructures such as the zoonoses laboratory,” says Pleiner-Duxneuner.
“Together with AGES, we have designed the Zoonoses Laboratory to be so flexible that it will still be able to respond to new requirements in twenty years’ time,” says Christine Dornaus, Managing Director of ARE Austrian Real Estate: “A high-security laboratory is one of the most technically challenging buildings one can construct. The majority of the space is dedicated to technical building services, which ensure that research can be carried out in accordance with the very latest technical standards. The new building has created the structural conditions necessary to support AGES in its extremely important work.”
Prevention as a sound investment: rapid certainty in the event of animal diseases
When Hungary and Slovakia reported outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease in March 2025, one of the most dreaded animal diseases – which had long been considered a thing of the past on the continent – had suddenly re-emerged in Europe. “It is extremely important for the domestic agricultural sector to have a laboratory infrastructure in which experts can quickly determine whether the virus is also present in Austria or, in the best-case scenario, can quickly give the all-clear,” says Johannes Fankhauser, Head of Section at the Ministry of Agriculture. This also applies to other animal diseases such as African swine fever or lumpy skin disease, which occur in Europe and cause severe economic damage to farmers in the affected regions.
“A single outbreak of an animal disease can cause damage running into millions, ranging from export bans to farm closures. Seen in this light, the zoonoses laboratory is a very cost-effective investment. Every day we gain certainty sooner saves the agricultural sector, the food industry and the healthcare system real money,” emphasises AGES Managing Director Anton Reinl. Experts from human and veterinary medicine will be able to use the same high-security infrastructure in future. “This embodies the ‘One Health’ approach not only in technical terms, but also economically,” says Reinl.
Over 100 years of disease control in Mödling
“Mödling has a very long tradition when it comes to combating diseases in animals and, consequently, preventing diseases in humans,” says Mayor Silvia Drechsler. “The opening is now another important step towards preparing Austria as well as possible for future health risks.” As early as 1910, the Imperial and Royal Animal Vaccine Production Plant was established on the site now occupied by AGES.