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Spanish officials investigating the recent African swine fever outbreak in Catalonia are now considering the chance that the disease could have originated from a scientific laboratory. Their focus has shifted to five nearby labs as potential sources.

Confirmed Cases and Economic Stakes

A total of thirteen infections of the virus have been identified in feral pigs in the countryside outside Barcelona since 28 November. This has led Spain – the European Union's largest exporter of pig products – to rush to control the situation before it escalates into a serious threat to the country's multi-billion euro pig meat export sector.

Evolving Investigative Focus

Initially, regional officials suspected the disease may have begun after a boar ate infected food imported from abroad – possibly a thrown away food item from a haulier.

However, the national ministry of agriculture has initiated a new investigation after concluding that the strain of the virus found 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 identified virus is instead akin to one detected in Georgia in 2007.

"The discovery of a virus similar to the one that circulated in Georgia does not, therefore, rule out the chance that its origin lies in a biological containment laboratory," said the agriculture department.

Research Connection Examined

The 'Georgia-2007' viral strain is a 'standard' pathogen frequently used in experimental infections in secure labs to research the disease or to evaluate the effectiveness of treatments, which are currently being developed. The analysis suggests that the virus may not have started in livestock or meat products from any of the countries where the disease is currently present.

Official Response and Audit

In reaction, Salvador Illa announced he had ordered the regional research body to conduct an audit of five laboratories that handle the African swine fever virus within a 20km radius of the affected area.

"We are not excluding any scenarios when it comes to the source of the outbreak of this disease, but nor are we confirming any," he said. "Every theory remain on the table. First and foremost, we need to know the facts."

Current Containment Measures

The authorities have confirmed 13 cases of the virus – all of them in deceased wild boar found within six kilometers of the initial focus. Officials added the remains of 37 more wild animals discovered in the zone have been analysed, with all showing no infection for swine fever. Specialists dispatched to the thirty-nine pig farms within the surrounding zone have detected no sign of the illness there. Over one hundred personnel from the country's military emergencies unit have also been sent to the area to work alongside law enforcement and wildlife rangers.

Worldwide Background of African Swine Fever

For a long time endemic to Africa, African swine fever is harmless to humans but frequently deadly to swine. In 2018, the disease emerged in the People's Republic of China, which is has about 50% of the global pig population. By 2019, there were fears that as many as one hundred million pigs had been lost. Two years later, the virus was detected to be in the Federal Republic of Germany, home to one of the EU’s largest swine herds.

The Country's Crucial Position in Pork Exports

Spain, which is the EU’s biggest producer of pig meat, exported pig meat products worth €5.1bn to other European nations in the previous year, and almost 3.7 billion euros of pork products to markets outside the bloc. Official statistics indicate that the country processed fifty-eight million pigs in the year 2021 – an increase of 40% from a ten years prior.