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Spanish authorities probing the recent African swine fever outbreak in Catalonia are now exploring the possibility that the virus could have escaped from a scientific laboratory. Attention has narrowed to several local labs as potential sources.

Outbreak Details and Industry Stakes

Thirteen infections of the fever have been identified in feral pigs in the rural areas outside the Catalan capital beginning on 28 November. This has prompted Spain – the EU’s biggest exporter of pig products – to rush to control the outbreak before it becomes a serious risk to the country's multi-billion euro pork export sector.

Shifting Investigative Focus

At first, local authorities suspected the outbreak started after a boar consumed contaminated food imported from outside Spain – possibly a discarded food item from a haulier.

However, the national agriculture ministry has opened a different line of inquiry after determining that the variant of the pathogen detected in the deceased boars in Catalonia is different from the one reported to be present in other EU member states. Investigative findings suggest the identified virus is rather akin to one found in the country of Georgia in 2007.

"This finding of a virus similar to the one that circulated in that country does not, therefore, rule out the possibility that its origin is a biological containment facility," said the ministry.

Research Link Explored

The 'Georgia 2007' virus strain is a 'reference' pathogen frequently employed in scientific studies in secure labs to study the disease or to test the effectiveness of treatments, which are currently under development. The analysis suggests that the outbreak may not have originated in animals or meat products from any of the countries where the infection is currently active.

Government Actions and Audit

In response, the regional president of Catalonia announced he had ordered the regional research body to carry out an inspection of several facilities that work with the ASF pathogen within a 20-kilometer distance of the affected area.

"We are not excluding any possibilities when it comes to the origin of the incident of African swine fever, but neither is it confirming any," the official stated. "Every theory remain open. First and foremost, we need to know what happened."

Current Control Efforts

The agriculture ministry have reported 13 cases of the virus – each one in deceased feral pigs located within six kilometers of the initial focus. They have said the remains of 37 more wild animals discovered in the area have been analysed, with every one testing negative for the virus. Specialists dispatched to the 39 pig farms within the surrounding zone have found no trace of the disease there. Over 100 personnel from the nation's military emergencies unit have also been sent to the region to work alongside law enforcement and forestry agents.

Global Background of ASF

For a long time native to the African continent, ASF is harmless to people but often fatal to pigs. In the year 2018, the virus emerged in China, which is home to about 50% of the global pigs. By the following year, there were fears that up to 100 million animals had been culled or died. Two years later, the pathogen was confirmed to be in the Federal Republic of Germany, a country with one of the EU’s largest pig farming industries.

Spain's Crucial Role in Pork Exports

Spain, which is the European Union's largest producer of pig meat, exported pork products worth 5.1 billion euros to other European nations last year, and almost 3.7 billion euros of pork products to markets outside Europe. Official statistics indicate that the country slaughtered 58 million pigs in the year 2021 – an increase of 40% from a ten years prior.