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National authorities investigating the ongoing African swine fever outbreak in Catalonia are now exploring the possibility that the disease may have escaped from a research facility. Attention has shifted to five local facilities as possible points of origin.

Outbreak Details and Economic Concerns

Thirteen cases of the virus have been confirmed in wild boars in the rural areas outside Barcelona beginning on 28 November. This has led the country – the EU’s biggest pork exporter – to scramble to contain the outbreak before it escalates into a significant risk to the nation's €8.8bn-a-year pig meat export industry.

Shifting Theories of Origin

At first, regional authorities suspected the outbreak may have begun after a boar ate contaminated meat products brought in from outside Spain – possibly a discarded meat sandwich from a haulier.

However, the Spanish agriculture ministry has opened a different line of inquiry after determining that the strain of the pathogen detected in the dead boars in the region is not the same as the one reported to be circulating in other European countries. Investigative findings suggest the identified virus is instead similar to one detected in the country of Georgia in the year 2007.

"The discovery of a virus similar to the one that circulated in that country does not, therefore, exclude the possibility that its source lies in a biological containment laboratory," said the ministry.

Research Connection Examined

The 'Georgia 2007' viral strain is a 'reference' pathogen commonly used in experimental infections in containment facilities to study the virus or to test the effectiveness of vaccines, which are currently being developed. The analysis implies that the virus may not have started in livestock or animal products from any of the countries where the disease is currently present.

Official Actions and Review

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

"We isn’t ruling out any possibilities when it comes to the origin of the outbreak of African swine fever, but neither is it confirming any," he said. "Every theory are open. First and foremost, we need to know the facts."

Latest Containment Measures

The authorities have confirmed thirteen infections of the virus – each one in dead feral pigs found within 6km of the initial focus. Officials added the corpses of an additional 37 wild animals discovered in the zone have been tested, with all testing negative for the virus. Specialists dispatched to the 39 pig farms within the surrounding zone have detected no trace of the illness there. More than 100 members from the nation's military emergencies unit have also been deployed to the area to work alongside law enforcement and wildlife rangers.

Worldwide Context of African Swine Fever

Long endemic to Africa, African swine fever is harmless to humans but frequently fatal to swine. In the year 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 fears that up to one hundred million animals had been culled or died. Two years later, the virus was confirmed to be in the Federal Republic of Germany, a country with one of the EU’s largest swine herds.

Spain's Crucial Role in Pork Exports

The nation, which is the European Union's biggest producer of pig meat, exported pork products worth 5.1 billion euros to other EU countries last year, and almost 3.7 billion euros of pig-based goods to destinations outside Europe. National statistics show that the country slaughtered 58 million pigs in the year 2021 – an rise of forty percent from a ten years prior.