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National authorities probing the recent ASF incident in the northeastern region are now exploring the possibility that the disease may have escaped from a scientific laboratory. Attention has shifted to five nearby labs as potential points of origin.

Confirmed Cases and Economic Concerns

Thirteen infections of the fever have been confirmed in feral pigs in the countryside outside Barcelona beginning on 28 November. This has prompted Spain – the EU’s largest exporter of pig products – to rush to contain the outbreak before it becomes a serious risk to the country's multi-billion euro pork export industry.

Evolving Investigative Focus

At first, regional officials believed the disease may have begun after a boar consumed infected meat products imported from abroad – possibly a discarded meat sandwich from a haulier.

However, the national agriculture ministry has initiated a new line of inquiry after concluding that the strain of the pathogen found in the dead animals in the region is not the same as the one reported to be present in other EU member states. Investigative findings indicate the identified virus is instead similar to one found in the country of Georgia in the year 2007.

"The discovery of a virus similar to the one that was present in that country does not, therefore, exclude the possibility that its origin is a biological containment facility," said the agriculture department.

Research Connection Examined

The 'Georgia-2007' virus strain is a 'reference' virus frequently used in scientific studies in secure labs to research the virus or to test the efficacy of treatments, which are currently being developed. The analysis implies that the virus might not have originated in livestock or meat products from any of the countries where the disease is currently active.

Government Response and Review

In reaction, the regional president of Catalonia stated he had instructed the Catalan agrifood research institute to carry out an audit of five facilities that work with the ASF pathogen within a 20km radius of the affected area.

"The regional government isn’t ruling out any possibilities when it comes to the source of the outbreak of African swine fever, but nor are we confirming any," the official stated. "All hypotheses remain open. Above all, we need to know the facts."

Latest Control Efforts

The agriculture ministry have reported thirteen infections of the disease – all of them in dead wild boar found within 6km of the initial focus. They have said the remains of 37 more animals discovered in the zone have been tested, with every one testing negative for the virus. Experts sent to the 39 swine operations within the 20km radius have detected no trace of the illness on those farms. More than 100 members from the country's military emergencies unit have additionally been deployed to the area to work alongside law enforcement and wildlife rangers.

Worldwide Background of ASF

Long endemic to the African continent, African swine fever is not dangerous to people but frequently deadly to pigs. In 2018, the disease turned up in China, which is home to about half of the world’s pig population. By the following year, there were concerns that as many as one hundred million animals had been lost. Subsequently, the pathogen was confirmed to be in the Federal Republic of Germany, a country with 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, exported pig meat products worth 5.1 billion euros to other EU countries last year, and almost €3.7bn of pork products to markets outside Europe. Official statistics show that Spain processed fifty-eight million swine in the year 2021 – an increase of forty percent from a decade earlier.