Another lab leak? Porcine outbreak in Spain should be a wake-up call for biosafety

(Pixabay)

African swine fever virus (ASFV) causes fatal disease in wild and domestic pigs.

Thankfully, ASFV does not cause disease in people, but it can be economically devastating for commercial pork producers. Spain is currently experiencing an outbreak of African swine fever in wild boars, its first since 1994.

As a threat to Spain’s $10 billion annual pork export industry, local authorities are taking this outbreak extremely seriously. Yet, it illustrates a phenomenon with far higher stakes than Jamón Ibérico...