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National authorities investigating the ongoing ASF outbreak in Catalonia are now exploring the chance that the disease may have escaped from a research facility. Attention has shifted to five local facilities as possible sources.

Confirmed Cases and Industry Stakes

Thirteen infections of the fever have been identified in wild boars in the rural areas outside the Catalan capital beginning on 28 November. This has prompted Spain – the European Union's largest pork exporter – to rush to contain the outbreak before it escalates into a serious risk to the country's multi-billion euro pig meat export sector.

Evolving Investigative Focus

Initially, local authorities believed the disease started after a wild boar consumed contaminated meat products brought in from outside Spain – perhaps a thrown away meat sandwich from a haulier.

However, the national agriculture ministry has initiated a different investigation after determining that the strain of the virus found in the dead animals in Catalonia is not the same as the one reported to be circulating in other European countries. Investigative findings suggest the strain in question is instead akin to one found in the country of Georgia in 2007.

"The discovery of a virus like the one that was present in that country does not, therefore, rule out the chance that its source is a biological containment laboratory," said the agriculture department.

Research Connection Examined

The 'Georgia 2007' virus strain is a 'standard' virus commonly used in experimental infections in containment facilities to study the disease or to evaluate the effectiveness of vaccines, which are presently under development. The report suggests that the virus might not have originated in livestock or meat products from any of the nations where the infection is currently present.

Government Actions and Audit

In response, the regional president of Catalonia announced he had instructed the regional research body to conduct an audit of five facilities that handle the ASF pathogen within a 20km radius of the outbreak site.

"The regional government isn’t ruling out any possibilities when it comes to the source of the outbreak of this disease, but nor are we confirming any," the official stated. "Every theory are on the table. Above all, we need to know what happened."

Latest Containment Measures

The authorities have confirmed thirteen infections of the disease – each one in deceased wild boar located within six kilometers of the first detection site. Officials added the corpses of an additional 37 animals discovered in the area have been analysed, with all showing no infection for swine fever. Experts dispatched to the 39 pig farms within the surrounding zone have found no trace of the disease there. More than one hundred members from the country's military emergencies unit have additionally been deployed to the area to assist police officers and forestry agents.

Global Background of ASF

For a long time native to Africa, ASF is not dangerous to humans but frequently deadly to swine. In the year 2018, the virus emerged in the People's Republic of China, which is has about 50% of the world’s pig population. By 2019, there were fears that up to 100 million pigs had been lost. Two years later, the pathogen was confirmed to be in Germany, a country with one of the EU’s largest swine herds.

The Country's Crucial Role in Pork Exports

The nation, which is the EU’s largest pork producer, exported pork products worth 5.1 billion euros to other European nations last year, and almost €3.7bn of pork products to destinations outside Europe. National statistics show that the country slaughtered fifty-eight million swine in 2021 – an rise of 40% from a ten years prior.