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National authorities investigating the recent ASF outbreak in Catalonia are now exploring the chance that the virus could have escaped from a research facility. Attention has narrowed to several nearby labs as potential points of origin.

Outbreak Details and Industry Concerns

Thirteen cases of the virus have been identified in feral pigs in the rural areas outside Barcelona since 28 November. This has led Spain – the EU’s biggest exporter of pig products – to rush to control the situation before it escalates into a significant risk to the country's €8.8bn-a-year pork export sector.

Shifting Investigative Focus

At first, local authorities suspected the disease started after a wild boar consumed contaminated meat products imported from abroad – perhaps a thrown away meat sandwich from a truck driver.

However, the national agriculture ministry has initiated a new line of inquiry after concluding that the strain of the pathogen detected in the dead boars in Catalonia is not the same as the one known to be circulating in other EU member states. According to a report suggest the identified virus is instead similar to one detected in Georgia in 2007.

"This finding of a strain similar to the one that circulated in that country does not, therefore, exclude the possibility that its origin is a biological containment facility," stated the agriculture department.

Research Connection Explored

The 'Georgia 2007' virus strain is a 'standard' virus commonly used in scientific studies in containment facilities to study the virus or to evaluate the effectiveness of treatments, which are currently being developed. The report suggests that the outbreak might not have originated in animals or animal products from any of the countries where the disease is currently present.

Official Actions and Review

In reaction, the regional president of Catalonia stated he had ordered the regional research body to carry out an inspection of several facilities that work with the African swine fever pathogen within a 20km radius of the affected area.

"The regional government are not excluding any possibilities when it comes to the origin of the incident of African swine fever, but nor are we confirming any," he said. "All hypotheses are on the table. First and foremost, we need to understand the facts."

Current Containment Measures

The authorities have confirmed 13 cases of the virus – each one in deceased wild boar found within six kilometers of the first detection site. Officials added the corpses of an additional 37 wild animals found in the area have been tested, with all testing negative for the virus. Experts dispatched to the thirty-nine swine operations within the surrounding zone have found no trace of the illness there. More than 100 members from the country's military emergencies unit have also been deployed to the area to assist police officers and forestry agents.

Global Background of ASF

Long endemic to the African continent, African swine fever is harmless to humans but often fatal to pigs. In the year 2018, the virus turned up in China, which is home to about half of the world’s pigs. By 2019, there were concerns that as many as one hundred million pigs had been culled or died. Subsequently, the virus was detected to be in Germany, home to one of the European Union's biggest pig farming industries.

The Country's Crucial Role in Meat Production

The nation, which is the European Union's biggest pork producer, sold pork products worth 5.1 billion euros to other EU countries in the previous year, and nearly €3.7bn of pork products to destinations outside Europe. National data show that the country processed 58 million pigs in 2021 – an increase of forty percent from a ten years prior.