Swine fever: Police thoroughly search IRTA facilities

Barcelona / Cerdanyola del VallèsThe Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) and the Guardia Civil (Spanish Civil Guard) are conducting a search and seizure operation at the IRTA-CReSA laboratory, the only facility in Catalonia authorized to handle samples of African swine fever (ASF). The search began shortly after 8:30 a.m. and is still ongoing. "It's going to be a long process," police sources admit. This operation was ordered by the Cerdanyola del Vallès Court of Instruction Number 2 as part of the ongoing investigation into the outbreak of ASF detected in Collserola, which has been declared secret. The objective is to collect documentation for the investigation, which aims to determine whether the outbreak originated from a laboratory leak. The search and seizure of these facilities is being carried out following the protocols and security measures required for this type of research center, both police forces stated. According to sources consulted by ARA, this is a first step in what will be a complex investigation. During the search, which lasted more than twelve hours, the officers found a large amount of documentation related to the investigations being carried out at the center, very well organized and compartmentalized. They also had to follow numerous security protocols, and in fact, the objective was precisely to examine them to see if anything went wrong. At this point, according to the same sources, there are no indications pointing in that direction. This is precisely what they came to look for this Thursday. Given its proximity to the origin of the outbreak and the nature of the material they are dealing with—they have samples of African swine fever (ASF)—the sources consulted added, everything had to be thoroughly examined. Several explosives and chemical weapons specialists from both agencies also participated in the police operation. These officers will likely collect samples of the viruses that IRTA works with, also to compare them with those that infected the wild boars and thus verify if they are the same variant. Everything indicates that these samples will be sent to Madrid for analysis. Today's search should be understood as a first step in the investigation, which is still in its very early stages. In other words, the police are beginning to analyze the case and want to obtain as much information as possible from IRTA. To address the case, both police forces have created multidisciplinary teams: the operation is being led by officers from the Mossos d'Esquadra's Environmental Unit and the Guardia Civil's Seprona (Nature Protection Service), as well as agents from the DIC (Criminal Investigation Division), experts in investigation. Throughout the day, IRTA has been heavily guarded by several police vehicles. In the background, the noise of the construction work being carried out on the premises to expand the facility has been present, although The laboratory has already stated that they are not the cause of the outbreak. of plague. The police intervention is very lengthy precisely because all the documentation is highly technical; it needs to be thoroughly analyzed, and taking statements from some workers is not ruled out.

From IRTA-CReSA, both the laboratory and the workers themselves have maintained from day one that it is highly unlikely the virus could escape from their biosafety laboratory, which they have even described asauthentic bunkerHowever, this Thursday the center issued a statement emphasizing that it has cooperated from the beginning of the proceedings "to provide all the information and thus facilitate the work of the authorities" and reiterated its "commitment" to guarantee "a rigorous, transparent investigation based on technical and scientific criteria."

Other audits

Apart from this joint police investigation, another one is currently underway an audit, commissioned by the government of the Generalitat and a committee of external experts. On Wednesday, the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, explained that "all the samples worked on in the six centers or companies" that work with ASF have already been investigated. He also specified that part of the sequencing was carried out by the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) and another part was done at the reference laboratory of the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture. The objective of all these investigations is to find out the origin, that is, how the outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) began.

At the beginning of the month, the ministry explained that the virus—which has already caused the death of 13 wild boars in Catalonia—is not similar to those currently circulating in neighboring countries. In fact, the ministry indicated in a statement that the virus detected in the wild boars belongs to a new genetic group, 29, which had not been described until now in the European UnionThis led the Spanish government to suspect that it might have come from a biological containment facility, that is, a laboratory where this disease is researched.

The strain detected in the dead wild boars is very similar to the one that circulated in Georgia in 2007 and matches the one commonly used in experimental infections at research centers to evaluate, for example, the effectiveness of vaccines currently being developed to prevent infection. The Catalan government has admitted that these techniques are used in "various" centers. However, the virus is still being sequenced in a European laboratory, and the results of these analyses will be crucial in determining the origin of the outbreak.