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National officials probing the ongoing African swine fever incident in Catalonia are now exploring the possibility that the disease could have escaped from a research facility. Their focus has shifted to several nearby facilities as potential points of origin.

Confirmed Cases and Industry Concerns

A total of thirteen infections of the virus have been confirmed in feral pigs in the rural areas outside Barcelona beginning on 28 November. This has led the country – the EU’s largest pork exporter – to scramble to contain the situation before it escalates into a serious threat to the nation's €8.8bn-a-year pig meat export sector.

Shifting Investigative Focus

Initially, local officials believed the disease may have begun after a boar consumed contaminated meat products brought in from abroad – possibly a thrown away meat sandwich from a truck driver.

However, the national ministry of agriculture has initiated a different investigation after determining that the strain of the virus found in the deceased boars in the region is different from the one reported to be circulating in other European countries. Investigative findings indicate the identified virus is rather similar to one found in the country of Georgia in the year 2007.

"The discovery of a virus similar to the one that circulated in Georgia does not, therefore, exclude the possibility that its origin lies in a biological containment facility," said the agriculture department.

Laboratory Connection Examined

The 'Georgia 2007' viral strain is a 'standard' virus commonly employed in scientific studies in containment facilities to research the disease or to test the efficacy of vaccines, which are currently under development. The report suggests that the virus may not have originated in animals or meat products from any of the nations where the infection is currently active.

Government Actions and Review

In response, Salvador Illa announced he had ordered the regional research body to conduct an audit of several laboratories that work with the ASF virus within a 20-kilometer distance of the affected area.

"The regional government are not excluding any possibilities when it comes to the source of the outbreak of this disease, but neither is it confirming any," he said. "All hypotheses remain on the table. Above all, we need to know the facts."

Current Containment Efforts

The authorities have reported 13 cases of the virus – all of them in dead feral pigs 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 all testing negative for swine fever. Experts dispatched to the thirty-nine swine operations within the surrounding zone have detected no trace of the illness on those farms. Over one hundred personnel from the nation's emergency response forces have also been sent to the area to assist police officers and wildlife rangers.

Worldwide Context of ASF

Long endemic to Africa, ASF is harmless to people but frequently fatal to pigs. In the year 2018, the virus emerged in China, which is home to about half of the global pig population. By the following year, there were concerns that as many as 100 million pigs had been culled or died. Subsequently, the virus was confirmed to be in Germany, a country with one of the European Union's biggest swine herds.

The Country's Pivotal Position in Pork Exports

The nation, which is the European Union's largest pork producer, sold pork products worth 5.1 billion euros to other European nations last year, and nearly 3.7 billion euros of pork products to destinations outside the bloc. National data show that Spain slaughtered fifty-eight million pigs in 2021 – an increase of forty percent from a ten years prior.