Spain: Spain has deployed its military to help contain an outbreak of African swine fever near Barcelona, aimed at safeguarding the country’s multi-billion-euro pork export industry.
Authorities confirmed that two wild boars found dead in Bellaterra tested positive for the virus. Investigators believe the infection may have begun after a wild boar ate contaminated food, possibly a discarded sandwich brought in from outside Spain. Officials immediately established a six-kilometre exclusion zone around the affected area, located on the far side of the Collserola mountain range.
Over the weekend, more than 300 Catalan police officers and rural wardens were dispatched to the exclusion zone. On Monday, they were joined by 117 members of Spain’s military emergency unit, who are using drones to locate and remove potentially infected animals to prevent further spread.
African swine fever does not pose a risk to humans, but it spreads rapidly among pigs and wild boar, making it a severe economic threat to Spain, one of the world’s largest pork exporters.
The infected zone lies close to the AP-7 highway, a major transport corridor linking Spain and France. Regional authorities say eight more suspected cases are under investigation, and additional infections are likely.
Officials believe human activity may have introduced the virus from elsewhere in Europe, as no infected boar has been found in other parts of Catalonia or in neighbouring France. Final sequencing tests are pending. A team of EU veterinarians is set to visit the site this week to assess the situation and prepare recommendations for managing the outbreak.
The economic impact is already being felt. Spain’s agriculture minister said about one-third of the country’s pork export certificates have been temporarily blocked as a precaution, although no farms have tested positive so far. Pork producers within a 20-kilometre radius of the outbreak are now operating under strict movement and sales restrictions.
