Denmark will slaughter 17 million animals to contain the variant of the coronavirus that infected humans | Sciences

The Danish government has ordered the slaughter of millions of minks (animals shaped like weasels) after detecting a new mutation in the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that has spread between livestock farms and infected humans. There are at least 12 people infected with this new variant of the virus on the Jutland peninsula, the continent that borders Germany. According to the Danish authorities, this version of the virus represents a serious risk to public health, as it could spread across Europe and threaten the effectiveness of future coronavirus vaccines.

This Thursday, the government of the Scandinavian country announced the strict containment of seven municipalities in the north of the Jutland peninsula due to infections caused by this variant of the virus. The measures affect 280,000 inhabitants. Restaurants, bars, schools, cultural and sports centers will be closed for at least four weeks, while nursery schools will remain open.

The new variant of the virus “could have devastating consequences for the pandemic worldwide,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned in online remarks. “A virus that has mutated is in danger of spreading to other countries. The situation is very serious, ”he said. The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed on Twitter that it is aware of information about the mutation of the virus in the Danish mink and that it maintains constant communication with the country’s authorities.

The Government has launched a program for mink farmers to slaughter their animals with the help, if necessary, of the police and the army. It is estimated that 17 million specimens must be killed, the total amount that is created each year to supply the country’s fur industry, the world’s leading producer. There are more than a thousand farms spread throughout the territory, and at least 207 of them have detected the transmission of the coronavirus between minks.

Months ago, the Netherlands concluded that the new coronavirus could be transmitted from mink farmers to animals, and from mink farmers to humans, prompting a massive cull of specimens. In Spain, an outbreak of coronavirus forced the sacrifice of almost 10,000 animals from a farm in La Puebla de Valverde, in Teruel, for the same reasons.

One of the factors that can make a virus more dangerous is its passage from one species to another. A single virus that enters a cell is capable of producing tens of thousands of copies of itself. The virus needs the biological machinery of its new host to read and copy its genetic sequence, in this case, made up of almost 30,000 letters of RNA. In this process, copy errors, mutations, occur, which can change the appearance of the microorganism. If these new variants are passed back to another species (in this case, humans), the immune system may not be able to identify and fight them effectively, even if the person has been vaccinated against an earlier version of the same virus. This is what could happen in Denmark, according to authorities.

The Government believes that the new variant of the virus will continue to spread between people. And that about half of all those infected in North Jutland are already carriers of this new version of the pathogen, according to a report from the Serological Institute of Denmark. The document explains that the new mink virus has up to seven new mutations. They are all in protein spike (known as “protein S”), which forms the clumps of the virus and serves as a key to open the lock of human cells and infect them. So far, at least 12 people have been infected with a variant of the mink virus, which has four new mutations in this protein. Four of these people have ties to at least three mink farms, the Institute said. According to the organization, “laboratory studies” showed that people infected with this virus would develop less effective antibodies against this new variant. “This is concerning, as it could potentially affect the effectiveness of a future covid-19 vaccine,” the document says. Many of the vaccines being developed seek to ensure that the immune system learns to recognize the S protein of the coronavirus. Therefore, there is a possibility that a new virus with a slightly different protein S could infect even people who have been vaccinated.

Danish authorities believe the outbreak started before the summer, probably when a mink farm worker infected an animal. The infection quickly spread across Jutland farms, affecting nearly 200 properties. In June, the virus passed from mink to humans and caused several outbreaks in the local population, including in a nursing home. The Institute considers that continuing the activity of these farms represents a serious risk to public health and therefore recommends the elimination of all animals.

The Ministry of Agriculture has published a map of all the affected farms and has put in place an aid plan for farmers who must exterminate their specimens. The sacrifice will cost some 700 million euros (4.5 billion reais) to the public coffers, according to Reuters.