🔗 Share this article

National officials investigating the ongoing African swine fever outbreak in the northeastern region are now exploring the chance that the virus may have originated from a scientific laboratory. Their focus has shifted to five nearby labs as possible sources.

Confirmed Cases and Industry Concerns

Thirteen cases of the virus have been identified in feral pigs in the countryside outside the Catalan capital beginning on 28 November. This has led Spain – the European Union's biggest pork exporter – to rush to contain the situation before it becomes a significant threat to the nation's multi-billion euro pig meat export industry.

Evolving Investigative Focus

At first, local officials suspected the disease started after a boar consumed contaminated food imported from abroad – perhaps a discarded meat sandwich from a truck driver.

However, the national agriculture ministry has initiated a different investigation after concluding that the strain of the virus found in the dead animals in Catalonia is different from the one reported to be present in other European countries. Investigative findings suggest the identified virus is rather similar to one detected in Georgia in the year 2007.

"The discovery of a strain similar to the one that circulated in Georgia does not, therefore, exclude the possibility that its origin is a high-security laboratory," said the agriculture department.

Research Link Examined

The 'Georgia 2007' viral strain is a 'standard' virus frequently used in scientific studies in containment facilities to research the disease or to evaluate the efficacy of vaccines, which are presently under development. The analysis suggests that the virus may not have started in livestock or animal products from any of the nations where the infection is currently active.

Government Response and Audit

In reaction, the regional president of Catalonia stated he had ordered the Catalan agrifood research institute to carry out an audit of five laboratories that handle the African swine fever 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," he said. "Every theory remain open. Above all, we need to know what happened."

Current Containment Efforts

The authorities have reported thirteen infections of the disease – all of them in dead wild boar found within 6km of the first detection site. They have said the remains of 37 more animals found in the area have been analysed, with every one showing no infection for swine fever. Experts sent to the thirty-nine pig farms within the surrounding zone have detected no trace of the illness there. Over 100 members from the country's military emergencies unit have additionally been sent to the area to assist police officers and forestry agents.

Global Background of ASF

For a long time native to the African continent, ASF is harmless to people but frequently deadly to swine. In the year 2018, the disease turned up in China, which is has about 50% of the global pig population. By 2019, there were concerns that up to 100 million animals had been culled or died. Subsequently, the pathogen was confirmed to be in Germany, a country with one of the European Union's largest pig farming industries.

Spain's Crucial Role in Pork Production

The nation, which is the EU’s largest pork producer, exported pork products worth €5.1bn to other EU countries last year, and almost 3.7 billion euros of pork products to markets outside Europe. Official data show that Spain slaughtered 58 million swine in 2021 – an increase of forty percent from a decade earlier.