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National officials investigating the recent African swine fever incident in Catalonia are now exploring the chance that the disease could have escaped from a research facility. Their focus has narrowed to several nearby facilities as possible points of origin.

Confirmed Cases and Economic Stakes

Thirteen cases of the fever have been confirmed in feral pigs in the countryside outside the Catalan capital since 28 November. This has prompted the country – the EU’s largest exporter of pig products – to rush to contain the outbreak before it escalates into a significant threat to the country's €8.8bn-a-year pork export sector.

Shifting Investigative Focus

Initially, regional officials suspected the outbreak started after a boar consumed infected food brought in from abroad – possibly a discarded meat sandwich from a truck driver.

However, the Spanish agriculture ministry has initiated a new line of inquiry after concluding that the strain of the virus found in the dead boars in Catalonia is different from the one known to be circulating in other EU member states. Investigative findings indicate the identified virus is instead similar to one found in the country of Georgia in the year 2007.

"The discovery of a strain like the one that was present in that country 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' virus strain is a 'standard' virus frequently used in scientific studies in containment facilities to research the virus or to test the effectiveness of vaccines, which are presently under development. The analysis suggests that the outbreak may not have originated in livestock or animal products from any of the nations where the infection is currently present.

Official Response and Audit

In response, the regional president of Catalonia announced he had ordered the regional research body to carry out an inspection of five facilities that work with the ASF virus within a 20km distance of the outbreak site.

"We isn’t ruling out any possibilities when it comes to the origin of the outbreak of this disease, but nor are we confirming any," the official stated. "Every theory are on the table. Above all, we need to understand the facts."

Current Containment Measures

The authorities have confirmed thirteen infections of the disease – all of them in dead wild boar found within 6km of the first detection site. Officials added the remains of 37 more wild animals found in the area have been analysed, with every one testing negative for swine fever. Experts dispatched to the 39 swine operations within the surrounding zone have found no sign of the disease on those farms. More than 100 personnel from the nation's military emergencies unit have additionally been sent to the area to work alongside law enforcement and wildlife rangers.

Global Background of African Swine Fever

For a long time native to the African continent, ASF is not dangerous to people but often fatal to pigs. In 2018, the disease turned up in the People's Republic of China, which is home to about 50% of the global pig population. By the following year, there were fears that as many as one hundred million pigs had been lost. Subsequently, the virus was confirmed to be in Germany, home to one of the European Union's biggest pig farming industries.

Spain's Crucial Position in Pork Exports

The nation, which is the European Union's biggest producer of pig meat, sold pork products worth 5.1 billion euros to other European nations in the previous year, and nearly €3.7bn of pork products to destinations outside the bloc. National statistics show that the country processed 58 million pigs in 2021 – an increase of 40% from a decade earlier.