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An animal of yours enters its cage, on November 6, 2020 in Denmark afp_tickers
This content was published on November 7, 2020 – July 23, 2020
(AFP)
Some animals can become infected with Covid-19 and mink can transmit the virus to humans, but there is no evidence at this stage that infection between animals and humans exacerbates the epidemic, scientists said after Denmark announced the slaughter of millions. of these animals infected with a new strain of Corona. It can be transmitted to humans.
On Wednesday, Danish Prime Minister Mitte Frederiksen announced the slaughter of all mink animals in the country, numbering more than 15 million, and said that an altered version of “SARS-Cove-2” could threaten the effectiveness of any vaccine in the future, which these animals transferred to 12 people.
This announcement had the effect of a bomb on the global media in an environment of great frustration in the face of Covid-19, which so far has claimed the lives of more than 1.2 million people in less than a year.
But many experts were cautious, wondering about the truth about the supposed dangers of this infection in the absence of the publication of scientific research.
“I really wish this trend of practicing science would be stopped with press releases. There is no reason why genetic data should not be shared to allow the scientific community to evaluate these claims,” said Angela Rasmussen, an epidemiologist at the University. from Columbia in New York on Twitter.
RNA viruses, such as the Corona virus that appeared in China in late 2019, are mutating all the time, without necessarily having serious consequences. Furthermore, no scientific study yet shows that one of the many “SARS-Cove-2” mutations can modify the extent or severity of the infection.
Also, a mink infection is not new. In addition to Denmark, this infection has been found on many farms since June in the Netherlands, the United States, and Spain. Some cases of human transmission of mink infection have also been reported.
But the Danish ad goes further and describes the transmission of a different strain of the mink virus to humans.
“According to information from the Danish authorities, this virus is neither the most contagious nor the fiercest form,” Gil Salva, an expert from the French Health Agency “Anas”, told AFP.
But the fear is that “it appears as the second most prevalent virus among humans (…) it is already difficult to develop a vaccine for one strain, so what if we have to do this for two, four or six strains”, according to the expert who explained that the decision to euthanize animals is a “precaution”.
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Professor Francois Ballou of London College said: “This measure is completely justified from a health point of view to eliminate a large source of transmission of the virus.”
However, “the indication of the risk that the mink could cause the spread of a second epidemic seems extreme and reversible in the current tense climate,” according to Palo, who noted that there are similar cases of mutation of the virus, but on a small scale.
He continued: “We know that this virus appeared in mink farms and was transmitted to humans, its frequency has not increased at all and it remains rare among the population,” although he acknowledges that it is not “impossible” that this type of mutated virus is spread and make vaccines less effective.
James Wood, a professor of veterinary medicine at the University of Cambridge College of Veterinary Medicine, said that the “actual effects of the changes” caused by the mutation “have not been evaluated by the scientific community.”
He continued: “It is too early to say that this mutation will lead to the failure of vaccines,” as quoted by the British “Science Media Center”.
In addition to mink animals, cases of Covid-19 have been identified in other carnivores, especially cats, but also dogs, tigers and lions at the New York Zoo.
At this stage, “the risk of transmitting Covid-19 from animals to humans is very low,” according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Following Denmark’s announcement, the French Academy of Medicine on Friday asked sick people to “avoid contact” with their pets.
Rasmussen is concerned that the virus will spread among non-domestic cats. “Cats are infected and there are millions of feral cats in the United States and millions more around the world,” he said.
“If cats become a permanent reservoir of the virus, one can fight SARS-Cove-2 for years,” he concluded.
