🔗 Share this article ASF Incident in Spain: Authorities Probe Potential Laboratory Leak Spanish authorities probing the ongoing African swine fever outbreak in Catalonia are now considering the chance that the virus may have escaped from a research facility. Their focus has narrowed to several nearby facilities as potential points of origin. Confirmed Cases and Economic Stakes Thirteen infections of the fever have been confirmed in feral pigs in the rural areas outside Barcelona since 28 November. This has prompted Spain – the European Union's biggest exporter of pig products – to rush to contain the situation before it becomes a significant risk to the nation's multi-billion euro pork export industry. Shifting Theories of Origin At first, local authorities suspected the outbreak started after a wild boar consumed contaminated food imported from abroad – perhaps a discarded meat sandwich from a haulier. However, the national agriculture ministry has initiated a different investigation after concluding that the strain of the virus detected in the deceased animals in the region is different from the one reported to be present in other EU member states. Investigative findings suggest the strain in question is rather akin to one detected in the country of Georgia in 2007. "This finding of a virus similar to the one that circulated in Georgia does not, therefore, exclude the possibility that its origin lies in a high-security facility," stated the ministry. Laboratory Link Examined The 'Georgia-2007' virus strain is a 'standard' pathogen frequently employed in experimental infections in containment facilities to research the virus or to test the effectiveness of treatments, which are presently being developed. The report implies that the virus might not have started in animals or animal products from any of the countries where the disease is currently active. Official Response and Review In response, Salvador Illa announced he had ordered the Catalan agrifood research institute to conduct an inspection of several facilities that work with the ASF virus within a 20km distance of the affected area. "We are not excluding any possibilities when it comes to the origin of the outbreak of African swine fever, but neither is it confirming any," the official stated. "All hypotheses are open. First and foremost, we need to understand what happened." Latest Control Measures The agriculture ministry have reported 13 cases of the virus – all of them in deceased feral pigs located within 6km of the initial focus. They have said the corpses of an additional 37 animals discovered in the area have been tested, with all testing negative for the virus. Experts dispatched to the 39 pig farms within the 20km radius have found no trace of the illness there. More than one hundred personnel from the nation's military emergencies unit have also been deployed to the region to assist police officers and wildlife rangers. Worldwide Background of ASF Long endemic to the African continent, ASF is not dangerous to people but frequently fatal to pigs. In 2018, the disease emerged in the People's Republic of China, which is has about half of the global pig population. By the following year, there were fears that up to 100 million pigs had been culled or died. Two years later, the virus was detected to be in Germany, home to one of the European Union's largest swine herds. The Country's Pivotal Position in Meat Production The nation, which is the EU’s largest pork producer, sold pork products worth €5.1bn to other EU countries in the previous year, and almost €3.7bn of pig-based goods to destinations outside Europe. Official statistics indicate that Spain slaughtered 58 million pigs in the year 2021 – an rise of forty percent from a ten years prior.