The Catalan IRTA CReSA (Animal Health Research Center) has detected four new cases of African Swine Fever (ASF) in the heart of the Collserola mountain range (Barcelona), as confirmed to this newspaper by a spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food. There, the center has sent samples of the four animals to be analyzed and the results were known in a few hours. This Catalan surveillance service has been operating 24 hours a day since 2019.
The department wanted to spread the news so that the population becomes aware of the danger of the spread of the plague, which is not contagious to humans. ASF has returned to Spain after 30 years free of cases and is a serious blow to the livestock industry. The country is the largest producer in the EU (24% of the total) and the third in the world. The Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, asked for “prudence” and “tranquility” this Saturday during a press conference.
The first two wild boar carcasses were found one kilometer from the campus of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and these other four were also found. A reassuring fact for the authorities. These are, therefore, cases in the same surveillance radius and demonstrate in principle that the contingency plan is working. The Catalan Department of Agriculture from the point of Cerdanyola, where the first two cases were found.
This closure to prevent the spread of PPA covers areas of 12 municipalities: Sabadell, Sant Quirze, Santa Perpètua de Mogoda, Montcada i Reixac, Ripollet, Barberà, Cerdanyola, Sant Cugat, Terrassa and Rubí. And in a radius of 20 kilometers, which affects 64 municipalities, riding a bicycle, hunting and fishing are prohibited.
The four references are going to be analyzed at the Central Veterinary Laboratory (Algete, Madrid) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food for safety reasons, but the analyzes carried out in Catalonia are not in doubt. The plague can kill all the pigs on a farm in a few days with fever, coughing and bleeding. The last time a case was detected in Spain was in November 1994.
The Catalan Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Òscar Ordeig, in an interview on RAC 1 collected by the Europa Press agency, this Saturday asked citizens for responsibility to avoid going to the affected area “with a vehicle, with a bike, with a step of contaminated biological material from an animal could spread the disease.” “The economic impact will be great, there is no need to hide,” he warned, adding that the population area is very large, which is why, according to him, everyone’s collaboration is needed. “We do not know if there are other infected pigs, therefore, surveillance and control work is needed in the area,” he insisted.
The return of this viral disease has forced the preventive blockade of pork exports. Japan, Mexico and the United Kingdom have banned imports of Spanish meat, while China has chosen to limit only those from the province of Barcelona. That the measure focuses only on one area is of vital importance because 19% of Spanish pork exports in 2024 went to China and had a value of almost 1.1 billion euros.
Regarding the evolution and monitoring of the disease, Minister Ordeig explained that the next few hours are very important to contain the outbreak. In his opinion, if this is done quickly, food exports that have now been suspended can be “renegotiated.”
Ordeig has clarified that this work “will be long”, but defends that the sector is very professionalized and modernized, so it is more prepared than 30 years ago, when the last case was recorded, to prevent this disease from entering farms.
