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Spanish authorities investigating the recent ASF incident in Catalonia are now considering the possibility that the virus could have originated from a scientific laboratory. Attention has narrowed to five local labs as possible sources.

Confirmed Cases and Economic Concerns

Thirteen cases of the virus have been confirmed in wild boars in the rural areas outside Barcelona since 28 November. This has prompted the country – the EU’s biggest exporter of pig products – to rush to control the situation before it escalates into a significant threat to the country's €8.8bn-a-year pig meat export industry.

Shifting Investigative Focus

Initially, regional officials suspected the disease may have begun after a wild boar ate infected food brought in from abroad – perhaps a discarded meat sandwich from a haulier.

However, the Spanish ministry of agriculture has initiated a new investigation after determining that the variant of the virus detected in the deceased animals in the region is not the same as the one known to be circulating in other European countries. Investigative findings suggest the strain in question is rather akin to one found in Georgia in the year 2007.

"The discovery of a virus like the one that circulated in Georgia does not, therefore, exclude the chance that its origin lies in a biological containment facility," said the ministry.

Laboratory Link Examined

The 'Georgia 2007' virus strain is a 'reference' virus commonly used in experimental infections in secure labs to research the disease or to test the effectiveness of vaccines, which are presently being developed. The report implies that the virus may not have started in livestock or animal products from any of the nations where the disease is currently active.

Official Actions and Audit

In response, the regional president of Catalonia stated he had ordered the Catalan agrifood research institute to carry out an audit of several facilities that work with the African swine fever pathogen within a 20-kilometer distance of the affected area.

"The regional government isn’t ruling out any possibilities when it comes to the source of the incident of African swine fever, but nor are we confirming any," the official stated. "All hypotheses are open. First and foremost, we need to know the facts."

Latest Containment Efforts

The authorities have reported thirteen infections of the virus – each one in dead feral pigs located within 6km of the first detection site. Officials added the remains of an additional 37 animals found in the area have been analysed, with all testing negative for swine fever. Experts dispatched to the thirty-nine pig farms within the 20km radius have found no sign of the disease on those farms. More than 100 personnel from the nation's emergency response forces have also been sent to the area to assist law enforcement and wildlife rangers.

Worldwide Context of ASF

Long native to Africa, ASF is harmless to people but often deadly to swine. In 2018, the disease emerged in the People's Republic of China, which is home to about 50% of the global pigs. 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 the Federal Republic of Germany, a country with one of the EU’s biggest swine herds.

The Country's Crucial Position in Pork Production

Spain, which is the EU’s biggest pork producer, sold pork products worth 5.1 billion euros to other European nations last year, and almost €3.7bn of pig-based goods to markets outside the bloc. National data show that Spain slaughtered fifty-eight million swine in 2021 – an rise of forty percent from a decade earlier.