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National officials investigating the ongoing African swine fever incident in Catalonia are now considering the possibility that the virus may have originated from a scientific laboratory. Attention has shifted to five nearby facilities as potential points of origin.

Outbreak Details and Industry Concerns

Thirteen infections of the virus have been identified in wild boars in the countryside outside the Catalan capital since 28 November. This has led Spain – the EU’s largest exporter of pig products – to rush to contain the situation before it escalates into a serious risk to the nation's multi-billion euro pork export sector.

Shifting Investigative Focus

At first, regional officials believed the disease started after a boar ate infected food imported from abroad – perhaps a thrown away food item from a truck driver.

However, the national agriculture ministry has opened a new investigation after concluding that the variant of the pathogen detected in the dead boars in the region is different from the one known to be circulating in other EU member states. According to a report suggest the identified virus is instead similar to one found in Georgia in 2007.

"The discovery of a strain like the one that circulated 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 used in experimental infections in secure labs to research the virus or to evaluate the efficacy of vaccines, which are presently being developed. The analysis implies that the outbreak may not have originated in livestock or meat products from any of the nations where the disease is currently present.

Government Response and Audit

In reaction, Salvador Illa announced he had ordered the Catalan agrifood research institute to conduct an inspection of five laboratories that work with the ASF pathogen within a 20km distance of the affected area.

"The regional government are not excluding any possibilities when it comes to the origin of the incident of African swine fever, but nor are we confirming any," the official stated. "All hypotheses are on the table. Above all, we need to know what happened."

Latest Control Efforts

The authorities have confirmed 13 cases of the virus – each one in deceased feral pigs found within six kilometers of the initial focus. Officials added the corpses of 37 more animals found in the zone have been tested, with all showing no infection for the virus. Specialists sent to the 39 pig farms within the surrounding zone have found no sign of the disease there. Over 100 personnel from the nation's emergency response forces have additionally been deployed to the region to work alongside police officers and forestry agents.

Worldwide Background of ASF

For a long time native to Africa, ASF is harmless to people but often fatal to swine. In 2018, the disease turned up in the People's Republic of China, which is has about half of the global pig population. By 2019, there were fears that up to 100 million animals had been lost. Two years later, the pathogen was detected to be in Germany, home to one of the EU’s largest pig farming industries.

Spain's Crucial Role in Pork Production

The nation, which is the EU’s biggest producer of pig meat, sold pig meat products worth €5.1bn to other EU countries in the previous year, and nearly 3.7 billion euros of pig-based goods to destinations outside Europe. Official data show that the country processed fifty-eight million pigs in the year 2021 – an rise of 40% from a decade earlier.