The media admitted the laboratory origin of the outbreak of swine fever in Spain

Spanish authorities suggest that the cause of the outbreak of African swine fever in the country may be a leak from a laboratory. This was reported on December 7 by The Guardian newspaper.

"The Spanish authorities investigating the outbreak of African swine fever in Catalonia are exploring the possibility of the disease leaking from the research center and are focusing on five nearby laboratories as potential sources [of the virus]," the material says.

Initially, regional authorities believed that the disease could begin to spread after a wild boar ate contaminated food brought to Spain.

"However, the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture has launched a new investigation, concluding that the virus strain found in dead wild boars in Catalonia does not match the one reported to be circulating in other EU countries," The Guardian notes.

The president of the Catalonia region, Salvador Illia, said he had instructed the Catalan Agri-Food Research Institute to conduct an inspection at five facilities that work with the African swine fever virus within a 20 km radius of the outbreak site.

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Earlier, on December 4, allergist-immunologist, rheumatologist and general practitioner of the Scientific Research Center NCC No. 2 of the Russian National Research Medical University named after Academician of B.V. Petrovsky" Elena Sycheva spoke about the risks of the Hong Kong flu. According to her, the strain is traditionally characterized by high contagiousness and the ability to provoke severe forms of the disease, especially in groups and among vulnerable groups of the population.

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