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National authorities investigating the ongoing ASF outbreak in Catalonia are now considering the possibility that the virus could have originated from a research facility. Their focus has narrowed to several nearby facilities as possible points of origin.

Outbreak Details and Economic Concerns

Thirteen infections of the virus have been identified in feral pigs in the countryside outside Barcelona beginning on 28 November. This has prompted Spain – the EU’s biggest exporter of pig products – to scramble to control 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 suspected the disease may have begun after a wild boar ate infected meat products brought in from outside Spain – possibly a thrown away food item from a haulier.

However, the national agriculture ministry has initiated a different line of inquiry after determining that the variant of the pathogen detected in the dead boars in Catalonia is different from the one known to be present in other EU member states. 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 strain similar to the one that was present in Georgia does not, therefore, rule out the possibility that its source is a biological containment laboratory," said the agriculture department.

Laboratory Link Examined

The 'Georgia-2007' virus strain is a 'reference' virus frequently used in experimental infections in containment facilities to study the disease or to test the effectiveness of treatments, which are presently being developed. The analysis suggests that the outbreak might not have originated in animals or meat products from any of the countries where the infection is currently present.

Official Response and Review

In reaction, Salvador Illa stated he had ordered the regional research body to carry out an inspection of several facilities that handle the ASF pathogen within a 20km radius of the outbreak site.

"The regional government are not excluding any scenarios when it comes to the origin of the outbreak of this disease, but neither is it confirming any," the official stated. "All hypotheses remain open. First and foremost, we need to know what happened."

Current Control Efforts

The authorities have reported 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 an additional 37 animals found in the zone have been analysed, with every one showing no infection for the virus. Experts dispatched to the 39 pig farms within the surrounding zone have found no trace of the illness there. Over 100 personnel from the country's military emergencies unit have additionally been deployed to the area to assist law enforcement and wildlife rangers.

Worldwide Background of ASF

Long native to the African continent, ASF is not dangerous to humans but frequently fatal to pigs. In the year 2018, the disease emerged in the People's Republic of China, which is home to about half of the global pig population. By the following year, there were concerns that as many as one hundred million pigs had been culled or died. Subsequently, the virus was detected to be in Germany, home to one of the EU’s biggest swine herds.

Spain's Crucial Role in Meat Production

The nation, which is the European Union's largest pork producer, exported pig meat products worth €5.1bn to other EU countries last year, and almost €3.7bn of pork products to destinations outside the bloc. Official statistics indicate that Spain processed fifty-eight million swine in the year 2021 – an increase of 40% from a decade earlier.