[ad_1]
The coronavirus is killing Denmark as the world’s largest producer of mink fur. The modified pathogen has spread to several people and could affect the effectiveness of corona vaccines.
Until this week, Denmark remained the world’s largest manufacturer of mink fur.
As a protective measure against a new coronavirus mutation, Danish authorities will kill 15 to 17 million minerals grown in the country over the next few days. Surprisingly, the government ordered the drastic measure on Wednesday afternoon. In the Jutland region, it had previously been observed for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic emerged that a mutant of the virus called “Cluster 5” had spread from infected animals to humans. According to Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, health authorities have discovered viruses with mutations in twelve infected Danes that could make the virus less sensitive to antibodies that target the bite protein on the surface of the virus. These antibodies are produced by the human immune system in response to the virus or a vaccine; they are supposed to prevent the virus from attaching itself to human cells. According to the Danish authorities, mutated viruses could, in the worst case, be insensitive to vaccines that are being developed around the world.
Little is known about the changes in the pathogen.
Therefore, Prime Minister Frederiksen spoke of the possible “devastating consequences for the pandemic around the world.” “At worst, we have a pandemic starting again in Denmark,” said Kåre Mølbak, director of infection prevention at the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen, which is scientifically monitoring the corona pandemic. Politicians from other parties in the Danish parliament supported the government’s action against mink cultivation, with the aim of preventing a “possible new global catastrophe”, wrote Pernille Skipper, spokesperson for the red-green “unity list” on Twitter. Besides killing the mink, the authorities also ordered that the inhabitants of the affected regions not leave their communities for four weeks.
Scientists elsewhere took the news more reluctantly. Emma Hodcroft from the University of Basel reported skepticism on Twitter Wednesday night. The fact that a variant of the virus develops some degree of resistance to antibodies “does not necessarily” render potential vaccines ineffective. It is also conceivable that the mutation “has no effect.” However, outside of Denmark, very little is known about the mutation in the Danish mink. Hodcroft criticized the fact that Danish scientists and authorities have yet to share the details of the new variant of the virus with colleagues around the world: “Statements without context trigger headlines of alarm, concern and panic. That doesn’t help anyone. “
Copenhagen infection medicine specialist Jens Lundgren also urgently requested more information from the Statens Serum Institute. After all, mutations in the Sars-CoV-2 spike protein in mink populations have often been described without causing as much concern: “The problem is that they still haven’t said what kind of mutations they have found, if anything. completely It is new. “
The world’s largest manufacturer of mink fur
In any case, the Danish government sees cause for concern enough to wipe out an entire industry virtually overnight: Denmark was the world’s largest mink fur manufacturer until this week. Copenhagen Fur, the auction house of Danish mink farmers, has a market share of 70 percent of the mink fur sold worldwide. At the 2013 wedding, Denmark exported mink furs worth nearly two billion euros. According to the Danske Minkavlere industry association, mink farming currently employs 6,000 people and there are around 1,100 mink farms in the country, most of them in North and West Jutland. Now everyone is losing their animals and their livelihoods.
So far Covid 19 infections have been found in 207 of the farms, the virus was likely introduced there by humans and then jumped into mink populations, where it mutated and subsequently infected people again. The first infections had already been discovered in August. However, the government says a potential threat has only become apparent in recent weeks. The Statens Serums Institute said only the latest research had suggested the danger of the mutation for future vaccines, so it was only this week that continued mink farming was classified as a “significant risk to public health.” Meanwhile, it has been observed that between four and five percent of all infected people in North Jutland carried the mutated virus “Cluster 5”. In twelve people examined, the researchers then discovered a mutation in the virus in precisely those places that are important for the effect of possible vaccines; therefore, the alarm was raised.
Agriculture Minister Mogens Jensen stressed that there is now no ban on mink farming in Denmark. However, he admitted that the slaughter of the current population would mean “de facto the closure of the mink industry in Denmark” for years to come. The government announced compensation for breeders and others affected. Days Pedersen, president of the Danske Minkavlere industry association on the DR public broadcaster, spoke of a “tragic situation that is pulling the rug under the feet of many families and the healthiest mink population.”
