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A strain of the new coronavirus can be transmitted to animals such as rats, mice and ferrets and then returned to humans, the BBC reported.
The mutated strain could return in the future, years from now, among the human population, warned Jeremy Farrar, director of the research charity Welcome Trust. His opinion was spread amid fears that a strain of the virus was developing among the mink population. The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control has announced that it is possible to transmit the virus from mink to humans. Denmark destroyed tens of millions of minks. More than two hundred people in the country have been infected with the animal virus, BTA reported.
The continued spread of the Sars-CoV-2 virus to mink farms could lead to the growth of other mutated strains that pose a threat.
Studies are needed to assess whether mutated forms of the virus can interfere with the efficacy of vaccines or therapies, a study by European experts concludes.
“The risk of cross-border spread of these variants of the novel coronavirus through animals and their products is very low, but it is important that people avoid close contact with minks from farms,” said Nikolaus Kritz of the European Agency for Food Control. “Additional surveillance measures are needed to limit further spread.”
Danish authorities were particularly concerned about a mink-associated strain of coronavirus, which was found in 12 people. Its mutation affects the protein spike, which is the focus of the creators of a vaccine against the new coronavirus.
“Mutations occur constantly, but very rarely in this protein. That is why we are concerned when we see mutations that change the amino acids and the shape of this protein,” Professor Anders Fomsgaard, head of virological research at the Serum Institute in Spain, recently told the BBC. Copenhagen.
According to scientists, the virus is transmitted in mink farms through infected droplets in food or dust. They fear that mink farms will become “virus reservoirs” and insist on monitoring other domestic and wild animals.
Coronavirus outbreaks have been reported on farms kept for their fur in the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Sweden, Italy and the United States. Britain and Austria banned fur farms years ago, Germany is phasing out them, and Belgium, France and Norway plan to shut down mink farms. The Netherlands will stop growing mink next spring.
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