Around 90 municipalities in northeastern Spain have been quarantined following an outbreak of a highly contagious disease in pigs.
Thirteen cases of African swine fever have been confirmed in dead wild boars in Catalonia.
It’s suspected the outbreak began after the disease was leaked from a laboratory within the Spanish region where scientists were experimenting with it just days before.
Investigators are assessing the chance that the leak got here from Research Centre on Animal Health (CReSA) in Bellaterra, north of Barcelona.
The Catalan government has declared an emergency over the outbreak.
Restrictions were imposed inside a 6km contamination zone and a wider 20km infected area.
In accordance with the Department of Agriculture, Environmentand Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland, African swine fever is a ‘highly contagious’ viral disease of pigs.
‘In its acute form the disease generally leads to high mortality.’
African swine fever is a unique disease to swine flu because the virus doesn’t affect people and there isn’t a impact on human health.
Spanish authorities scrambled to contain the outbreak in a bid to guard the country’s pork export industry – estimated to be value £7.7billion annually.
Greater than 40 countries have reportedly imposed bans on Spanish pork imports.
The research lab where the leak is believed to have began scheduled two experiments for various strains of the disease for late November.
A report produced by Spain’s National Biosafety Commission said this was the identical period through which the primary wild boar infected with African swine fever appeared only metres away from the research centre.
How you can spot African swine fever
In accordance with the UK government website, these are the essential signs of African swine fever:
- Fever
- Depression
- Recumbency (lying down or reclining)
- Lack of appetite
- Lack of energy
- Sudden death with few signs beforehand
Other signs can include:
- Red or dark skin – particularly on the ears and snout
- Discharges from the eyes and nose
- Laboured respiration and coughing
- Vomiting
- Diarrhoea
- Abortion in pregnant sows
- Weakness
- Unsteady gait (walk)
Nevertheless there are several different strains of African swine fever – and pigs infected with mild varieties of the disease may not develop into sick or show typical clinical signs.
Severe strains are generally fatal.
The UK’s National Pig Association reports that the Catalan government is considering reducing wild boar populations within the region within the aftermath of the outbreak.
Greater than 30,000 wild boars could possibly be culled to halt the spread, authorities said.
Cases have been present in 17 other European countries. These include:
- Bulgaria
- Estonia
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Italy
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Moldova
- North Macedonia
- Poland
- Romania
- Russia
- Sardinia
- Serbia
- Slovakia
- Ukraine
Cases have also been confirmed in Asia, including in Cambodia China, Hong Kong, North Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam – and elsewhere, corresponding to within the Dominican Republic and Haiti and a few African countries including South Africa.
The UK government said that while cases haven’t been present in all parts of those countries, there’s risk that individuals travelling to them risk bringing the disease here in the event that they have contact with pigs or wild boars – corresponding to on farms or smallholdings – or visit areas where wild boars may live, including forests or woodland.
It has advised that individuals travelling to those countries should clean and disinfect clothing, footwear, vehicles and equipment before they return to the UK and have contact with pigs or visit areas where wild boars live.
Metro has approached the Research Centre on Animal Health for comment.
Get in contact with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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