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Spanish officials probing the recent ASF incident in the northeastern region are now considering the chance that the disease could have escaped from a scientific laboratory. Attention has narrowed to several local labs as possible points of origin.

Confirmed Cases and Economic Stakes

Thirteen cases of the fever have been identified in wild boars in the countryside outside the Catalan capital since 28 November. This has led Spain – the EU’s largest pork exporter – to rush to control the outbreak before it escalates into a significant risk to the country's €8.8bn-a-year pork export sector.

Shifting Theories of Origin

Initially, regional authorities believed the disease started after a boar consumed contaminated food imported from outside Spain – perhaps a thrown away meat sandwich from a haulier.

However, the national ministry of agriculture has opened a different investigation after determining that the variant of the virus detected in the deceased boars in Catalonia is not the same as the one known to be present in other EU member states. Investigative findings indicate the identified virus is rather akin to one detected in the country of Georgia in 2007.

"The discovery of a strain like the one that circulated in that country does not, therefore, rule out the possibility that its origin is a biological containment facility," stated the agriculture department.

Laboratory Connection Explored

The 'Georgia 2007' viral strain is a 'reference' pathogen commonly employed in scientific studies in secure labs to research the disease or to test the effectiveness of treatments, which are currently being developed. The analysis suggests that the outbreak may not have originated in livestock or animal products from any of the countries where the infection is currently present.

Government Actions and Review

In reaction, the regional president of Catalonia stated he had instructed the Catalan agrifood research institute to carry out an inspection of several laboratories that handle the ASF virus within a 20km distance of the affected area.

"We isn’t ruling out any possibilities when it comes to the origin of the incident of African swine fever, but neither is it confirming any," he said. "All hypotheses remain open. First and foremost, we need to understand the facts."

Latest Control Measures

The agriculture ministry have reported 13 cases of the virus – all of them in deceased wild boar found within 6km of the initial focus. They have said the corpses of 37 more animals found in the area have been analysed, with all testing negative for swine fever. Specialists sent to the thirty-nine swine operations within the surrounding zone have detected no sign of the disease there. Over 100 members from the country's emergency response forces have also been sent to the region to assist police officers and forestry agents.

Global Context of African Swine Fever

For a long time endemic to Africa, African swine fever is not dangerous to humans but often fatal to pigs. In the year 2018, the disease turned up in China, which is has about half of the global pigs. By 2019, there were concerns that as many as 100 million pigs had been culled or died. Two years later, the virus was confirmed to be in the Federal Republic of Germany, home to one of the EU’s biggest pig farming industries.

Spain's Crucial Position in Meat Production

Spain, which is the EU’s largest producer of pig meat, exported pig meat products worth 5.1 billion euros to other European nations last year, and almost 3.7 billion euros of pig-based goods to destinations outside the bloc. Official data show that Spain slaughtered fifty-eight million pigs in the year 2021 – an rise of forty percent from a decade earlier.