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Of: TT
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Photo: Patric Söderström / TT
The first case of corona-infected minks has been found in Sweden. Stock Photography.
Several minks have tested positive for the coronavirus at a mink farm in Sölvesborg in Blekinge. People on the farm have also been found infected.
The Swedish Veterinary Institute is investigating how the virus spreads between animals.
This is the first time the new corona virus has been found on a Swedish mink farm.
– Today we tested several animals, and they all tested positive, says Karl Ståhl, acting state epizootologist at the Swedish Veterinary Institute (SVA).
People who work on the farm have also been found infected. There is no established transmission path yet.
– But you can assume that the infection has been transmitted from person to animal, says Karl Ståhl.
Like in the disco
The fact that the virus has spread to more than 70 mink farms in the Netherlands and more than 140 in Denmark shows that minks are particularly susceptible to the coronavirus.
– Minks have the potential to become infected because they have receptors in their airways that are suitable for the virus.
When raised for fur production, the minks are kept in cages close to each other, which is believed to be the reason why the infection is easily spread on farms.
– Minks don’t keep their distance. It’s like with nightclubs, if you have a lot of people in a small area, you run the risk of having a lot of viruses and then the infection spreading quickly.
Have been murdered
The Swedish Board of Agriculture states that there is still no reason to kill the animals on the affected farm in Sölvesborg, but that it is subject to restrictions to prevent the spread of the infection.
In the Netherlands, where hundreds of thousands of minks have died, there are reports that minks have transmitted the infection to people who work with animals. Cats housed in mink farms have also been found infected.
– Cats contract a transient disease and, in experimental studies, can spread the infection even further. But in reality, felines are not at risk of infection, they do not live together.
Research opportunity
The Swedish Board of Agriculture and SVA monitor the spread of the infection and work together with the mining industry in Sweden to prevent the virus from entering more facilities. Mink farmers have been asked to send dead minks to SVA for sampling and analysis.
– We will also study the routes of infection.
In the Netherlands, there have been several studies on outbreaks, where researchers observed the development of immunity and the spread of the virus in the air. Similar studies may also be relevant in Sweden, according to Ståhl.
– We can learn a lot about how the virus develops when it spreads from one individual to another.
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