Mutated virus may reduce the effect of future vaccines



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One of the reasons that minks have been killed in Denmark has been concern that the virus has mutated and that in such cases it could affect the way a vaccine works. In Denmark, changes have been observed in a protein on the surface of the virus called the nail protein, says Karl Ståhl.

– Many vaccines target this nail protein. If you change the structure of the protein, the effect of a future vaccine will decrease, he says.

Denmark is thus killing all its 17 million minks, but in Sweden the situation does not seem the same.

In Sweden, there are currently around 650,000 minks on various mink farms and, starting next week, so-called fur will take place when minks are killed into fur.

– After that, we only have 100,000 minks left and then the risk of something similar happening in Sweden is much lower, says Karl Ståhl.

In Sweden, monitoring is being carried out where mink are continuously sampled in Sweden and the development of the virus and people in the mink environment are monitored.

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