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Spanish officials probing the ongoing ASF outbreak in Catalonia are now exploring the chance that the disease may have originated from a scientific laboratory. Attention has narrowed to several nearby facilities as possible sources.

Confirmed Cases and Economic Stakes

Thirteen infections of the fever have been identified in feral pigs in the countryside outside the Catalan capital since 28 November. This has prompted the country – the European Union's biggest pork exporter – to scramble to contain the situation before it escalates into a serious risk to the nation's €8.8bn-a-year pork export sector.

Shifting Investigative Focus

At first, local authorities believed the outbreak may have begun after a boar consumed contaminated meat products imported from abroad – perhaps a thrown away food item from a haulier.

However, the Spanish agriculture ministry has initiated a new investigation after concluding that the variant of the virus detected in the dead animals in the region is not the same as the one known to be circulating in other European countries. According to a report suggest the strain in question 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 high-security facility," said the agriculture department.

Research Link Examined

The 'Georgia-2007' viral strain is a 'standard' pathogen commonly used in scientific studies in secure labs to research the disease or to test the effectiveness of treatments, which are presently under development. The report implies that the virus might not have originated in animals or animal products from any of the nations where the disease is currently active.

Government Actions and Review

In reaction, Salvador Illa stated he had instructed the Catalan agrifood research institute to carry out an inspection of five facilities that handle the African swine fever pathogen within a 20-kilometer radius of the outbreak site.

"The regional government are not excluding any possibilities when it comes to the origin of the incident of this disease, but neither is it confirming any," he said. "Every theory remain on the table. Above all, we need to understand what happened."

Latest Control Measures

The agriculture ministry have confirmed 13 cases of the virus – each one in dead wild boar found within 6km of the initial focus. They have said the remains of an additional 37 animals discovered in the zone have been analysed, with every one showing no infection for the virus. Specialists dispatched to the 39 pig farms within the surrounding zone have detected no trace of the illness on those farms. More than 100 members from the country's emergency response forces have additionally been sent to the area to work alongside police officers and forestry agents.

Global Context of ASF

For a long time native to the African continent, African swine fever is not dangerous to humans but often fatal to swine. In 2018, the virus emerged in China, which is home to about half of the world’s pigs. By the following year, there were fears that as many as one hundred million pigs had been culled or died. Two years later, the virus was confirmed to be in Germany, home to one of the European Union's biggest pig farming industries.

The Country's Pivotal Position in Pork Exports

Spain, which is the EU’s largest pork producer, exported pig meat products worth 5.1 billion euros to other EU countries last year, and nearly €3.7bn of pig-based goods to markets outside Europe. National statistics show that the country slaughtered 58 million swine in 2021 – an rise of 40% from a decade earlier.