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Spanish officials probing the recent African swine fever incident in Catalonia are now considering the chance that the virus could have escaped from a research facility. Attention has shifted to five nearby facilities as possible points of origin.

Confirmed Cases and Industry Stakes

A total of thirteen cases of the fever have been confirmed in feral pigs in the countryside outside Barcelona beginning on 28 November. This has led the country – the EU’s largest pork exporter – to scramble to contain the outbreak before it escalates into a significant threat to the nation's €8.8bn-a-year pork export sector.

Evolving Investigative Focus

Initially, regional officials believed the outbreak may have begun after a boar consumed contaminated meat products imported from outside Spain – perhaps a discarded meat sandwich from a truck driver.

However, the national ministry of agriculture has initiated a different line of inquiry after concluding that the variant of the virus detected in the deceased animals in Catalonia is not the same as the one known to be circulating in other EU member states. Investigative findings indicate the identified virus is rather similar to one found in Georgia in 2007.

"The discovery of a strain similar to the one that circulated in that country does not, therefore, rule out the possibility that its source is a high-security laboratory," stated the agriculture department.

Laboratory Link Examined

The 'Georgia-2007' virus strain is a 'reference' pathogen frequently employed in scientific studies in secure labs to research the virus or to evaluate the efficacy of vaccines, which are currently under development. The report suggests that the outbreak might not have started in livestock or meat products from any of the countries where the disease is currently present.

Official Response and Review

In reaction, Salvador Illa stated he had instructed the Catalan agrifood research institute to conduct an inspection of several facilities that handle the ASF virus within a 20km distance of the outbreak site.

"We are not excluding any possibilities when it comes to the origin of the outbreak of African swine fever, but nor are we confirming any," the official stated. "Every theory are on the table. First and foremost, we need to know the facts."

Current Containment Efforts

The agriculture ministry have reported thirteen infections of the virus – each one in dead wild boar located within 6km of the first detection site. Officials added the corpses of 37 more wild animals found in the area have been analysed, with all showing no infection for swine fever. Specialists sent to the 39 pig farms within the surrounding zone have detected no trace of the illness on those farms. Over one hundred members from the nation's emergency response forces have also been sent to the area to assist law enforcement and wildlife rangers.

Worldwide Context of ASF

For a long time native to the African continent, African swine fever is not dangerous to humans but frequently deadly to pigs. In the year 2018, the disease emerged in the People's Republic of China, which is has about half of the world’s pigs. By 2019, there were fears that up to 100 million pigs had been culled or died. Subsequently, the pathogen was confirmed to be in the Federal Republic of Germany, a country with one of the EU’s largest pig farming industries.

The Country's Pivotal Role in Pork Production

Spain, which is the European Union's biggest producer of pig meat, sold pig meat products worth 5.1 billion euros to other European nations in the previous year, and nearly €3.7bn of pig-based goods to destinations outside Europe. Official data show that Spain slaughtered 58 million swine in the year 2021 – an increase of forty percent from a decade earlier.