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Spanish officials probing the ongoing African swine fever outbreak in the northeastern region are now exploring the possibility that the virus could have escaped from a scientific laboratory. Their focus has shifted to five local labs as potential points of origin.

Confirmed Cases and Economic Stakes

Thirteen infections of the virus have been confirmed in wild boars in the rural areas outside Barcelona since 28 November. This has prompted Spain – the EU’s biggest exporter of pig products – to rush to contain the outbreak before it escalates into a significant risk to the nation's multi-billion euro pig meat export sector.

Evolving Investigative Focus

At first, local authorities suspected the outbreak started after a boar consumed infected meat products brought in from abroad – possibly a discarded meat sandwich from a haulier.

However, the Spanish agriculture ministry has opened a new investigation after concluding that the variant of the pathogen detected in the dead boars in Catalonia is different from the one reported to be present in other EU member states. According to a report suggest the strain in question is rather similar to one found in Georgia in 2007.

"This finding of a strain like the one that circulated in that country does not, therefore, exclude the chance that its origin lies in a high-security laboratory," stated the agriculture department.

Laboratory Link Explored

The 'Georgia 2007' viral strain is a 'standard' virus frequently used in scientific studies in containment facilities to study the virus or to test the effectiveness of treatments, which are currently under development. The report implies that the virus may not have started in livestock or meat products from any of the nations where the infection is currently active.

Government Actions and Audit

In reaction, Salvador Illa stated he had instructed the Catalan agrifood research institute to carry out an inspection of five laboratories that work with the ASF pathogen within a 20-kilometer radius of the outbreak site.

"The regional government isn’t ruling out any possibilities when it comes to the origin of the incident of this disease, but nor are we confirming any," he said. "Every theory remain on the table. First and foremost, we need to understand what happened."

Current Containment Measures

The agriculture ministry have reported 13 cases of the disease – each one in dead feral pigs found within six kilometers of the initial focus. Officials added the remains of 37 more wild animals discovered in the area have been tested, with every one showing no infection for the virus. Specialists dispatched to the 39 swine operations within the 20km radius have detected no trace of the illness there. More than 100 members from the nation's emergency response forces have additionally been deployed to the area to assist police officers and wildlife rangers.

Global Background of African Swine Fever

For a long time endemic to Africa, ASF is harmless to humans but frequently deadly to swine. In 2018, the disease turned up in China, which is has about 50% of the world’s pigs. By the following year, there were concerns that as many as one hundred million pigs had been lost. 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.

The Country's Crucial Position in Pork Exports

The nation, which is the European Union's biggest producer of pig meat, sold pig meat products worth 5.1 billion euros to other EU countries in the previous year, and almost €3.7bn of pig-based goods to markets outside the bloc. National statistics indicate that the country slaughtered fifty-eight million pigs in 2021 – an rise of 40% from a ten years prior.