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Spanish officials probing the ongoing African swine fever incident in the northeastern region are now considering the possibility that the virus may have originated from a scientific laboratory. Their focus has narrowed to five nearby facilities as possible sources.

Confirmed Cases and Economic Concerns

Thirteen infections of the fever have been confirmed in wild boars in the countryside outside the Catalan capital beginning on 28 November. This has led Spain – the EU’s largest exporter of pig products – to rush to contain the outbreak before it becomes a serious risk to the country's €8.8bn-a-year pig meat export industry.

Evolving Theories of Origin

Initially, regional authorities suspected the disease started after a wild boar ate infected food imported from abroad – possibly a discarded meat sandwich from a truck driver.

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

"The discovery of a virus similar to the one that was present in that country does not, therefore, exclude the possibility that its source is a high-security facility," said the agriculture department.

Research Link Examined

The 'Georgia-2007' viral strain is a 'standard' pathogen commonly used in scientific studies in containment facilities to study the disease or to test the efficacy of treatments, which are currently under development. The report implies that the outbreak may not have originated in livestock or animal products from any of the countries where the disease is currently present.

Official Actions and Audit

In response, the regional president of Catalonia stated he had ordered the regional research body to carry out an inspection of several laboratories that work with the African swine fever virus within a 20km 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 neither is it confirming any," the official stated. "Every theory are on the table. Above all, we need to know what happened."

Latest Control Measures

The agriculture ministry have reported 13 cases of the virus – each one in deceased feral pigs found within six kilometers of the first detection site. Officials added the corpses of an additional 37 wild animals found in the area have been analysed, with every one testing negative for the virus. Specialists dispatched to the 39 pig farms within the surrounding zone have found no sign of the disease on those farms. Over 100 personnel from the nation's emergency response forces have also been deployed to the region to assist police officers and forestry agents.

Worldwide Context of African Swine Fever

Long endemic to Africa, ASF is harmless to humans but frequently fatal to pigs. In the year 2018, the disease turned up in China, which is has about half of the global pigs. By the following year, there were fears that as many as one hundred million animals had been culled or died. Two years later, the virus was detected to be in the Federal Republic of Germany, home to one of the European Union's largest swine herds.

Spain's Crucial Position in Meat Production

The nation, which is the EU’s largest producer of pig meat, exported pork products worth €5.1bn to other EU countries in the previous year, and nearly 3.7 billion euros of pig-based goods to markets outside the bloc. Official statistics show that Spain processed fifty-eight million swine in 2021 – an rise of 40% from a decade earlier.