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Spanish officials probing the ongoing ASF outbreak in the northeastern region are now considering the chance that the virus may have escaped from a scientific laboratory. Attention has shifted to five local labs as potential sources.

Outbreak Details and Industry Concerns

A total of thirteen infections of the fever have been confirmed in wild boars in the rural areas outside the Catalan capital beginning on 28 November. This has led Spain – the EU’s biggest exporter of pig products – to scramble to contain the situation before it becomes a serious threat to the nation's €8.8bn-a-year pig meat export sector.

Shifting Investigative Focus

At first, regional authorities suspected the disease may have begun after a wild boar consumed infected food brought in from outside Spain – perhaps a discarded food item from a haulier.

However, the national agriculture ministry has initiated a different investigation after determining that the variant of the virus found in the deceased animals in Catalonia is different from the one reported to be circulating in other European countries. According to a report suggest the strain in question is rather similar to one found in 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 source lies in a high-security laboratory," said the ministry.

Laboratory Link Explored

The 'Georgia-2007' virus strain is a 'reference' pathogen commonly employed in experimental infections in containment facilities to research the disease or to evaluate the efficacy of vaccines, which are presently under development. The report suggests that the virus might not have started in livestock or meat products from any of the nations where the infection is currently active.

Official Response and Audit

In reaction, Salvador Illa announced he had ordered the regional research body to carry out an audit of five facilities that work with the African swine fever pathogen within a 20km radius of the outbreak site.

"The regional government are not excluding any scenarios 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 on the table. First and foremost, we need to understand the facts."

Current Control Efforts

The authorities have reported thirteen infections of the virus – all of them in dead wild boar located within six kilometers of the first detection site. They have said the corpses of 37 more wild animals discovered in the zone have been analysed, with all showing no infection for the virus. Experts sent to the 39 swine operations within the surrounding zone have detected no sign of the illness there. More than 100 members from the nation's military emergencies unit have additionally been sent to the area to assist police officers and forestry agents.

Worldwide Background of African Swine Fever

Long endemic to the African continent, African swine fever is not dangerous to people but frequently deadly to pigs. In 2018, the virus turned up in the People's Republic of China, which is has about 50% of the global pigs. By 2019, there were fears that up to one hundred million pigs had been lost. Subsequently, the virus was detected to be in the Federal Republic of Germany, home to one of the European Union's biggest swine herds.

Spain's Crucial Position in Meat Production

The nation, which is the European Union's biggest pork producer, sold pig meat products worth €5.1bn to other EU countries in the previous year, and nearly €3.7bn of pig-based goods to markets outside the bloc. National statistics indicate that Spain processed fifty-eight million pigs in 2021 – an rise of forty percent from a ten years prior.