The news has set off alarm bells in Spain, the EU’s biggest pork exporter, with the government rushing to safeguard its roughly $10.3-billion pork industry
Spanish authorities are investigating the possibility that the African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreak near Barcelona may have originated from a leak at a high-security research facility, officials confirmed over the weekend.
The probe was launched after the specific strain of the virus found in wild boars differed from the one currently circulating across other parts of the European Union.
Thirteen ASF cases have been identified in dead wild boars in the countryside outside Barcelona since late November. Initial theories suggested the disease, which is harmless to humans but deadly to pigs, may have spread after a wild boar consumed contaminated food, such as a discarded meat product.
However, the strain found in the Catalan outbreak is similar to the “Georgia 2007” virus.
Spain’s agriculture ministry stated that this strain is a “reference virus frequently used in experimental infections in containment facilities to study the virus or to evaluate the efficacy of vaccines.” The ministry added that the finding “does not… rule out the possibility that its origin lies in a biological containment facility.”
The news has set off alarm bells in Spain, the EU’s biggest pork exporter, with the government rushing to safeguard its roughly $10.3-billion pork industry.
In response, Salvador Illa, the regional president of Catalonia, announced he has ordered an audit of five research facilities that work with the ASF virus within a 20 kilometre radius of the outbreak site. Despite the new lead, Illa stressed that officials are keeping an open mind on the source.
“The regional government isn’t ruling out any possibilities when it comes to the origin of the outbreak of African swine fever, but neither is it confirming any,” Illa said. “All hypotheses remain open. First and foremost, we need to know what happened.”
As the investigation continues, experts have found no trace of the illness in the 39 pig farms near the affected area. Over 100 personnel from Spain’s military emergencies unit have been deployed to assist police and wildlife rangers in containment efforts.
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