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Rapid coronavirus mutations in MINK could produce a deadlier version of the disease and even render vaccines useless if humans become infected, the EU health agency warns
- Mink farms have the potential to withstand a large number of broadcast events.
- This could allow troublesome mutations to emerge and potentially infect humans.
- In Denmark, 214 people have already contracted mink-related strains of COVID-19.
- In 12 of these cases, a unique strain was detected that is better resistant to antibodies.
- Denmark has started a mink slaughter on the country’s 1,139 fur-producing farms.
- EU health experts have called for a tightening of security measures elsewhere
Transmission of COVID-19 between mink populations could cause the virus to rapidly mutate before jumping to humans, an EU health agency has warned.
Such mutations carry the risk of the virus becoming more infectious, more lethal, altering the risk of reinfection, or spoiling potential vaccines in progress.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has published new guidance to curb the spread of the coronavirus between mink and humans.
The number of infections that can occur in a fur farm means that “the virus can accumulate mutations more quickly in minks,” the ECDC explained yesterday.
In Denmark, 214 people have been identified as having contracted SARS-CoV-2 variants associated with farmed minks, 12 of which had a unique variant.
This variant, termed ‘Group 5’, is believed to have a moderately decreased sensitivity to neutralizing antibodies in both mink and humans.
At least 216 Danish fur farms are believed to have been infected with coronavirus, and the country plans to euthanize all 15 million animals on its 1,139 farms.
Meanwhile, the world’s largest fur auction house, the farmer-owned Kopenhagen Fur, announced today that it will close its doors in the next two to three years.
Transmission of COVID-19 between mink populations could cause the virus to rapidly mutate before jumping to humans, an EU health agency has warned. Such mutations carry the risk of the virus becoming more infectious, resulting in more severe cases, or developing resistance to future prospective vaccines. In the photo, a caged mink (stock image)
As the coronavirus replicates, it evolves, but, to date, none of its identified mutations appear to have changed the transmissibility or lethality of COVID-19.
However, the ECDC warned, “the establishment of a virus reservoir among minks may lead to problematic virus variants in the future.”
“ There is currently great uncertainty and more research is needed on the nature of these mutations and their implications for issues such as vaccine efficacy, reinfections and [the] spread or severity of the virus, ‘they added.
The ECDC recommended that countries adopt a series of protective measures in mink farms, including regular testing of workers and local residents and, in the event of contracting COVID-19, sequencing the virus for mutations.
The health agency has also called for the animals to be routinely tested, as well as the introduction of additional precautionary measures to limit the possible spread of the virus from mink to humans.
These could include the slaughter of mink and the destruction of fur from infected farms, as well as increased precautions among veterinarians, mink producers and their partners in the fur industry.
The ECDC report noted that the risk to the general population from mink-related coronavirus strains was likely low, but much higher for mink workers and medically vulnerable people living in areas with a high concentration of mink farms. skins.
However, the World Health Organization is “very, very far from making a determination” on whether the mutated COVID-19 strains of mink could threaten people, the group’s emergency chief Michael Ryan said last week. .
According to David Heymann, a global health expert with the Chatham House think tank, a mutant strain of coronavirus from a mink farm is unlikely to change the course of the pandemic.
“This virus is in all countries and is mutating differently in each country,” added the former official of the World Health Organization.
‘So that this mink virus can replace [the] viruses in other countries and the impact on vaccines, it would have to be more suitable than the other viruses that exist now and spread more easily [and] more quickly. ‘
“The ECDC report points to fur farms as potential virus factories capable of producing COVID-19 mutations and even undermining medical progress towards reliable treatments,” said Humane Society International / Europe Director Joanna Swabe.
“The report further validates the Danish government’s decision to respond to the public health risk posed by the fur trade.”
He added that it should also be “a serious wake-up call for mink-producing countries that have not yet systematically tested it to take urgent action.”
