(Science|Business) Data Corner: France tops research on infectious diseases

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The MV Hondius was sailing from Argentina to Cape Verde when several cases of hantavirus were detected aboard. The Dutch-flagged cruise ship has since cut its journey short and EU health authorities have coordinated their response to contain the deadly outbreak. And while experts do not expect it to turn into another Covid pandemic, researchers have not stopped working on infectious diseases under Horizon Europe. 

With €5.28 billion awarded by the European Commission since the start of the current Framework Programme, health ranks third among the collaborative research clusters of Pillar 2. It falls behind the cluster for climate, energy and mobility, which has been granted €9.13 billion so far, and the cluster for digital, industry and space, which stands at €8.45 billion.

Research on infectious diseases is the second-most funded thematic priority of the health cluster after public and environmental health, with €447.2 million in funding. France receives the most funding with €64.4 million, followed by the Netherlands with €42.1 million, Germany with €40.2 million and Spain for €37.0 million.

Five years into Horizon Europe, French entities have also brought home more money per grant for researching infectious diseases than other leading countries, due to their primary participation in well-funded projects.

This includes Proact EU-Response, a project worth €17.0 million, of which France secured €11.6 million, in part for coordinating it through the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm). The initiative, which started in 2025, sets out to reinforce Europe’s readiness for emerging health threats, building upon the existing French-led Discovery trial for adults hospitalised because of Covid and the subsequent EU-Response consortium, funded under Horizon 2020.

Setting aside coordination, ten of the 26 participants in the project are French, including Sorbonne University, the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), and multinational biotechnology company bioMérieux.

The Netherlands and Spain also receive funding through the project, but only €0.1 million each.

France emerges as the leading beneficiary in other top-funded projects, such as MPX-Response, a programme dedicated to better understanding, preparing and treating mpox, and Climos, which aims to quantify the influence of climate and environmental factors on the spread of sand fly-borne diseases in Europe.

Zoonotic diseases, such as campylobacteriosis and salmonellosis, which are transmitted from animals to humans, have substantially increased over the last five years across the EU, according to the latest data from the European Food Safety Authority and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

The hantavirus outbreak itself has been attributed to the Andes strain of the virus, a zoonosis that is typically carried by rodents and can spread between people through prolonged, close contact. 

And this type of outbreaks is only likely to multiply as human populations grow and take over natural habitats, leading to more animal-human interactions. Climate change is another major driver, with rising temperatures allowing disease carrying organisms to thrive in previously inhospitable places and, ultimately, expand the range of the viruses they transmit.

Under the health cluster, other thematic priorities related to preventing and treating infectious diseases are supported, including emerging epidemics and preparedness. And here again, France often dominates funding.

All passengers of the MV Hondius were disembarked and repatriated from Tenerife, Spain, on May 11. Health authorities worldwide are tracking the whereabouts of those who left the ship on the way. The World Health Organization, meanwhile, has said that the public health risks stemming from the disease remained low and that the outbreak would not result in another pandemic. 

As of May 17, the ECDC had reported nine cases of hantavirus and three deaths.