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Coronavirus: Denmark imposes lockdowns amid mink covid fears

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image captionTeams in protective kit for the cull - usually mink are gassed with carbon monoxide

Danish authorities have said a lockdown will be introduced in some areas over a coronavirus mutation found in mink that can spread to humans.

The government has warned that the effectiveness of any future vaccine could be affected by the mutation.

Bars, restaurants, public transport and all public indoor sports will be closed in seven North Jutland municipalities.

The restrictions will come into effect from Friday and initially last until 3 December.

It comes soon after an announcement that Denmark would cull all its mink - as many as 17 million.

The Scandinavian country is the world's biggest producer of mink fur and its main export markets are China and Hong Kong. Culling began late last month, after many mink cases were detected.

On Thursday, the World Health Organization said mink appear to be "good reservoirs" of coronavirus. It also commended Denmark's "determination and courage" for going ahead with the culls, despite the economic impact it would bring.

IMAGE COPYRIGHT

image captionThere are more than 1,000 mink farms in Denmark

Coronavirus cases have been detected in other farmed mink in the Netherlands and Spain since the pandemic began in Europe.

But cases are spreading fast in Denmark - 207 mink farms in Jutland are affected - and at least five cases of the new virus strain were found. Authorities said 12 people had been infected with the mutated strain.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said about half of the 783 human cases reported in north Denmark related to a strain of the virus that originated in the mink farms.

• Coronavirus: A hunt for the 'missing link' species

Under the new rules, gatherings of 10 or more people will be banned, and locals have been urged to stay within the affected municipalities and get tested.

At a press conference, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said: "Right now the eyes of the world are resting on us. I hope and believe that together we can solve the problems we face."

On Wednesday, Ms Frederiksen said the mutated virus had been found to weaken the body's ability to form antibodies, potentially making the current vaccines under development for Covid-19 ineffective.

Since the start of the pandemic Denmark has reported 52,265 human cases of Covid-19 and 733 deaths, data from Johns Hopkins University shows.

Spain culled 100,000 mink in July after cases were detected at a farm in Aragón province, and tens of thousands of the animals were slaughtered in the Netherlands following outbreaks on farms there.

Studies are under way to find out how and why mink have been able to catch and spread the infection.

Mink become infected through catching the virus from humans, the BBC's environment correspondent Helen Briggs reports.

But genetic detective work has shown that in a small number of cases, in the Netherlands and now Denmark, the virus seems to have passed the other way, from mink to humans, our correspondent adds.

CANADA HAS MINK FARMS 

IN QUEBEC AND ONTARIO 

More on this story

• Denmark to cull up to 17 million mink amid coronavirus fears

  Published

  18 hours ago

• Coronavirus: Spain orders culling of almost 100,000 mink

  Published

  17 July

• The furious debate over fur

  Published

  3 June 2018

• Coronavirus: Calls to shut down 'dirty fur trade'

  Published

  5 May

Study finds American mink to be main limiting factor of European mink

ESTONIAN RESEARCH COUNCIL

Research News 

IMAGE: RADIOTRACKING view more 

CREDIT: MADIS PÕDRA

The disappearance of the species from their natural habitat is a growing problem, which unfortunately means the need to intensive management, including ex situ conservation and translocations, is also growing. For the translocation to be successful, risk factors must be removed from the area. In the course of reestablishment, it is important to assess the adaptation of captive-bred animals into the wild in order to improve release strategies and methods.

The doctoral thesis of Madis Põdra focused on the translocation of captive-bred European mink. The efficiency of adaptation as well as the influence of American minks, the main threat, were evaluated. This was achieved by analysing the spread of the invasive species in Spain. The translocation of the European mink was assessed in two regions - the Salburua wetland in Northern Spain and Hiiumaa in Estonia. In Salburua, the abundance of the American mink was reduced before releasing the European mink; in Hiiumaa, the alien species was removed entirely. 27 European minks were released in Salburua wetland (2008-2010) and 172 in Hiiumaa (2000-2003). To monitor the process of adaptation of the released animals, radio-tracking as well as live trapping were used. The researchers studied the survival of the minks, the causes of their death, movements and their dietary acclimatization.

"My thesis confirms that the American mink is the main obstacle in reintroducing the European mink," explains Põdra. "If we want to reintroduce the European mink successfully, the alien species must be removed entirely. Captive-bred European mink are capable of adapting and surviving in the wild. The first month or month and a half is the most critical stage: at that time, the death rate of released animals is relatively high. Later, their behaviour starts to resemble that of wild minks."

This doctoral thesis is particularly interesting because the researchers managed to evaluate the efficiency of the adaptation in rather great detail. Similar studies have previously been researched on numerous occasions, but the majority of studies focus on the survival of the released animals, often leaving the question 'why' unanswered. In Spain, Madis Põdra proved that the American mink has significant influence on the translocation of the European mink even if the abundance of the alien species is low and the European mink has been well prepared for life in the wild. It is known that the European mink competes with the American mink for habitats, but with his research, Madis Põdra proved that the American mink is able to depredate on native species. The results obtained in Hiiumaa showed that captive-bred specimens are capable of adapting to life in the wild, but the process is influenced by multiple factors like the sex of the released animals and their living conditions in captivity. In addition, the tendency of the European mink to move to unsuitable habitats after release was discovered alongside their difficulties catching prey. This indirectly affects their survival - although bigger predators are the proximate causes of death, the ultimate causes may be a syndrome of mal-adaptations.

CAPTION

Madis Põdra, a doctoral student from the School of Natural Sciences and Health of Tallinn University,

CREDIT

Madis Põdra

The supervisors of the doctoral thesis are Tiit Maran, visiting lecturer from the Estonian University of Life Sciences, and Tiiu Koff, visiting professor and research track associate professor at Tallinn University. The opponents are Professor Asko Lõhmus from the University of Tartu and John G. Ewen, senior research fellow at the London Institute of Zoology.

The dissertation is available in the ETERA digital environment of TU Academic Library. https://www.etera.ee/zoom/110294/view?page=1&p=separate&p=separate&tool=info&tool=info&view=0,0,2067,2835https:%2F%2Fhttp://www.etera.ee%2Fzoom%2F110294%2Fview%3Fpage&view=0,0,2067,2835

Fur Trades and Pandemics: Coronavirus and Denmark’s Great Mink Massacre

BY BINOY KAMPMARK
NOVEMBER 9, 2020

“The worst case scenario is a new pandemic, starting all over again out of Denmark,” came the words of a grave Kåre Mølbak, director of the Danish health authorities, the State Serum Institute. According to the Institute, COVID-19 infections were registered on 216 mink farms on November 6. Not only had such infections been registered; new variants, five different clusters in all, were also found. Mink variants were also detected in 214 people among 5,102 samples, of whom 200 live in the North Jutland Region.

A noticeable tremor of fear passed through the public health community. It was already known that mink are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2. On April 23 and 25, outbreaks linked with mink farms were reported at farms in the Netherlands holding 12,000 and 7,500 animals respectively. The mink had been infected by a farm worker with COVID-19 and, like humans, proved to be either asymptomatic, or evidently ill with symptoms such as intestinal pneumonia. In time 12 of the 130 Dutch mink farms were struck. What interested researchers was the level of virulence in the transmission of the virus through the population. “Although SARS-CoV-2 is undergoing plenty of mutations as it spreads through mink,” writes Martin Enserik for Science, “its virulence shows no signs of increasing.”

The Danish discoveries, however, fuelled another concern: the possibility that the virus from cluster 5, as identified by the Institute, was more resistant to antibodies from humans infected with SARS-CoV-2 when compared to other non-mutated SARS-CoV-2 viruses. Potential vaccines, in other words, could be threatened with obsolescence. “This hits all the scary buttons,” claimed evolutionary biologist Carl Bergstrom.

In her November 6 briefing, Tyra Grove Krause, head of the department of infectious disease epidemiology and prevention at the SSI, did not wish to strike the doomsday register. But she was none the less abundantly cautious. “We definitely need to do more studies on this specific variant and its possible effect on future vaccines, but it takes a long time to do these kinds of studies.” But she was in no mood to wait to “get all the evidence” given the possible risks. “You need to act in time to stop transmission.”

The World Health Organization is attempting to provide some reassurance, and while this is welcome, that body’s public image has been often unjustly frayed by its initial approach to the novel coronavirus. In a statement to National Geographic, the WHO admitted concern “when a virus has gone from humans to animals, and back to humans. Each time this happens, it can change more.” But Soumya Swaminathan, the WHO’s chief scientist, refrained from drawing any conclusions from the current crop of revelations from Denmark. “We need to wait and see what the implications are but I don’t think we should come to any conclusions about whether this particular mutation is going to impact vaccine efficiency.”

Francois Balloux, director of University College London’s Genetics Institute, is also making his own infectious disease wager, thrilled by this “fantastically interesting” scenario. “I don’t believe that a strain which gets adapted to mink poses a higher risk to humans.” This comes with qualification, of course. “We can never rule out anything, but in principle it shouldn’t. It should definitely not increase transmission. I don’t see any good reason why it should make the virus more severe.”

In Denmark, no scientific chances are being taken on either the issue of virulence or the matter of vaccine effectiveness. The entire mink herd of 17 million is being culled. The Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, attempted to see the problems of her country and its mink industry in humanitarian terms. “We have a great responsibility toward our population,” she explained on Wednesday, “but with the mutation that has now been found we have an even greater responsibility for the rest of the world as well.” Residents in seven areas in North Jutland have also been told “to stay in their area to prevent the spread of infection …. We are asking you in North Jutland to do something completely extraordinary. The eyes of the world are upon us.”

Despite the immediate and effective destruction of an industry, Mogens Jensen, Minister for Food and Fisheries, stated that this would be “the right thing to do in a situation where the vaccine, which is currently the light at the end of a very dark tunnel, is in danger.” Magnus Heunicke, the Minister for Health, also reiterated the point that “mink farming during the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic entails a possible risk to the public health – and for possibilities to combat COVID-19 with vaccines.”

The inevitably callous and brutal measure means that both the animals concerned and an industry, are being confined to history. Animal welfare advocates see mixed promise in the measure: cruelty in the culling, but hope in the eradication of a trade. “The right decision,” according to Animal Protection Denmark, “would be to end mink farming entirely and help farmers into [another] occupation that does not jeopardize public health and animal welfare.”

Joanna Swabe, the senior director of public affairs for Humane Society International/Europe, did express some pleasure at what was otherwise a grim end to Denmark’s mink population. As one of the largest fur producers in the global market, the “total shutdown of all Danish mink fur farms amid spiralling COVID-19 infections is a significant development.” She even went so far as to congratulate the Danish prime minister for the “decision to take such an essential and science-led step to protect Danish citizens from the deadly coronavirus.”

Fur lobbyists and traders, while accepting of the health risks, have had reservations at the absolute nature of the Danish response. Magnus Ljung, CEO of Saga Furs, noted how control of COVID-19 infections in mink populations was achieved in the Netherlands and Spain without a need to resort to mass culling. Mick Madsen of the Brussels-based industry group Fur Europe accepted that “public safety must come first” but urged Danish authorities to “release their research for scrutiny amongst international scientists.”

In the United States, mass culling is yet to take off. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention remains cool to any drastic measures, despite cases of contracted coronavirus at mink farms in Utah, Wisconsin and Michigan. Transmission to humans had yet to be documented, though spokesperson Jasmine Reed noted “ongoing” investigations.

Some scrutiny from international sources regarding Denmark’s decision has been forthcoming, though it is more in the order of modest scepticism. Marion Koopmans of the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, recalling the research into mink outbreaks in Dutch mink populations, considered the claim on a resistant mutation a bold one. “That is a very big statement. A single mutation, I would not expect to have that dramatic an effect.” Emma Hodcroft, a molecular epidemiologist based at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine in Bern, Switzerland, was also doubtful. “It’s almost never the case that it’s such a simple story of one mutation and all your vaccines stop working.”

After the great Danish mink massacre, it may well transpire that Prime Minister Frederiksen’s decision might have been less “science-led” as was presupposed. This does not dishearten Hodcroft, who warmly embraces the Danish approach to “take a step too far rather than a step too little”. Pity about the mink, then.


Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne. Email: bkampmark@gmail.com

Coronavirus Denmark

Denmark finds 214 people with mink-related virus

New strain has mutations that could pose risk to future Covid-19 vaccines, say experts

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said seven municipalities in northern Denmark will face movement curbs across county lines

PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

PUBLISHED NOV 7, 2020 

COPENHAGEN • Denmark's State Serum Institute, which deals with infectious diseases, has found mink-related versions of the coronavirus in 214 people since June, according to a report on its website.

One strain of the mutated coronavirus, which has prompted Denmark to cull its entire herd of minks, has however been found only in 12 people and on five mink farms so far.

Denmark had announced strict new lockdown rules on Thursday in the north of the country after the authorities discovered a mutated coronavirus strain in minks bred in the region, prompting a nationwide cull that will devastate the large pelt industry.


The government said on Wednesday that it would cull all minks - up to 17 million - to prevent human contagion with a mutated coronavirus, which the authorities said could be more resistant to future vaccines.

Seven municipalities in northern Denmark, home to most of the country's mink farms, will face restrictions on movement across county lines, while restaurants and bars will be closed, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said.

Schools will be closed and all public transport will be shut until Dec 3, she said, encouraging residents in the region to stay within their municipality and get tested.

For Denmark's mink pelt industry, which racked up exports of around US$800 million (S$1 billion) last year and employs 4,000 people, the cull could amount to a death knell. The industry association for Danish breeders called the move a "black day for Denmark".

"Of course, we must not be the cause of a new pandemic. We do not know the professional basis for this assessment and risk... but the government's decision is a disaster for the industry and Denmark," association chairman Tage Pedersen said.

In its report, the institute said laboratory tests showed the new strain had mutations on its so-called spike protein, a part of the virus that invades and infects healthy cells.

That poses a risk to future Covid-19 vaccines, which are based on disabling the spike protein, the institute said.

Dr Ian Jones, a virology professor from Britain's University of Reading, said the virus would be expected to mutate in a new species.

"It must adapt to be able to use mink receptors to enter cells and so will modify the spike protein to enable this to happen efficiently," he explained.

"The danger is that the mutated virus could then spread back into man and evade any vaccine response which would have been designed to the original, non-mutated version of the spike protein, and not the mink-adapted version."

Dr James Wood, a professor of veterinary medicine from Cambridge University, cautioned that the true implication of the changes in the spike protein had not yet been fully assessed by scientists.

"It is too early to say that the change will cause either vaccines or immunity to fail," he said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said yesterday it is now looking at biosecurity around mink farms across the world to prevent further "spillover events".

Dr Maria van Kerkhove, the WHO's technical lead for Covid-19, told a briefing in Geneva yesterday that transmission of the virus between animals and humans was "a concern", but added: "Mutations (in viruses) are normal. These type of changes in the virus are something we have been tracking since the beginning."

"We are working with regional offices... where there are mink farms, and looking at biosecurity and to prevent spillover events," Dr van Kerkhove said.

She said Denmark's decision to cull its minks was aimed at preventing the establishment of "a new animal reservoir for this virus".

Britain said it is removing Denmark from the government's travel corridor list. People arriving in Britain from Denmark now need to self-isolate.

"Passengers arriving into the UK from Denmark from 4am on Friday 6 November 2020 will need to self-isolate for 14 days by law before following domestic restrictions now in force," British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said in a statement.

Britain also removed Sweden and Germany from its travel corridor on Thursday.

REUTERS

About Europe's mink industry


COPENHAGEN • Denmark is Europe's largest exporter of mink pelts.

Here are some key facts about the industry in Denmark and elsewhere in Europe:

• The Netherlands, another major European Union exporter, accelerated a plan to phase out mink farming after two humans were infected with Covid-19 during the first coronavirus wave in May. More than 100 Dutch producers - with around 800,000 mother animals - have been ordered to close three years early by March next year, at a cost of €180 million (S$288 million) to the Dutch government. The coronavirus has been found at 69 Dutch mink farms. Dutch health experts are still working to determine to what extent the farms are a source of Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.

• France, which exported roughly €120 million worth of fur last year, has decided to outlaw mink farming from 2025.

• The authorities in Denmark said five cases of the new virus strain had been recorded on mink farms and 12 cases in humans, who are believed to have caught the illness from animals.

• Spain culled 93,000 animals at a farm in the Aragon region in July after an outbreak there.

• The European Union is one of the world's main sources of fur clothing, led by Denmark, Finland, Italy, Poland, Greece and the Netherlands. Exports are worth hundreds of millions of euros annually, according to the UN Comtrade database.

• Animal rights group Humane Society International - United Kingdom said China, Denmark and Poland are the largest mink producers globally, with 60 million minks killed annually for their fur.

MORE ON THIS TOPIC

Denmark to cull millions of minks over mutated coronavirus

Mink linked to human Covid-19 case prompts Dutch to screen farms

Spain to cull nearly 100,000 mink with coronavirus

Some key facts about the mink industry in Europe

REUTERS

#ENDFURFARMING

Flying fur prices put fox in focus as mink cull sparks shortage

BUT NOT A FLYING FOX

(IT'S A BAT)FUR


By Silvia Aloisi and Nikolaj Skydsgaard\\  

© Reuters/ANDREW KELLY Labeled mink pelts are seen in storage at Kopenhagen Fur in Glostrup

MILAN/COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark's coronavirus-driven mink cull has put the fur business in a spin, with industry officials expecting fashion houses such as Louis Vuitton, Dior and Fendi to snap up fox and chinchilla to fill the gap.

The global fur trade, worth more than $22 billion a year, is reeling from Denmark's decision to kill 17 million farmed mink after COVID-19 outbreaks at hundreds of farms led to the discovery of a new strain of coronavirus in the mammals.

Worries of a sudden shortage of slinky mink pelts, of which Denmark was the top exporter, have lifted prices by as much as 30% in Asia, the International Fur Federation (IFF) says.

Now, all eyes are on Finland, where one million mink and 250,000 fox pelts will soon be up for grabs for buyers in Korea, China, the United States and elsewhere next week. Auction house Saga Furs plans to hold the international sale, the first since the Danish cull, via livestream from Dec. 15.

A sales programme offers mink fur from both Europe and North America, such as "Pearl Velvet" and "Silverblue Velvet" mink, in addition to "Silver Fox", "White Finnraccoon" and Russian sable.

Saga Furs, which last year took over its North American rival NAFA, expects to sell all the pelts, compared with a 55% take-up so far in 2020 as a result of the coronavirus crisis.

"The market will strengthen, an increase in prices will help our business in general," Saga Furs CEO Magnus Ljung said of the industry, which has seen years of falling prices.


"We've already had more requests about foxes, if people see that there is a lack of mink, they could consider using something else," Ljung told Reuters.

LVMH's head of sustainability Helene Valade said this week that the French luxury group obtains fur from Finland. The owner of Louis Vuitton, Dior and Fendi, which relies on brokers to bid, says it is using only 100% certified mink, fox and finnraccoon.

Fur demand has been falling since the 1950s, except for a rise between 2000 and 2013 when it was popular on fashion runways and Chinese appetite for luxury pelts boomed, Lise Skov, an academic who researched the Danish fur industry, said.

A typical mink pelt sold for more than $90 at auction in 2013, while last year skins fetched around $30. This was despite a fall in global production to just under 60 million pelts last year, from more than 80 million in 2014.

Euromonitor predicts the value of fur and fur products, both real and faux, will fall by 2.6% this year.

IS FUR FINISHED?

A Danish breeder-owned cooperative that sold 25 million mink hides last year, or 40% of the global total, is considering selling its brand and other assets after announcing that it would gradually shut down operations over the next 2-3 years.

Kopenhagen Fur CEO Jesper Lauge Christensen told Reuters he had received expressions of interest from Chinese customers to take over the auction house's brand, which he said could be valued at up to 1 billion Danish crowns ($163 million).

It still plans to sell some 25 million pelts over the next two years, from Danish farms not infected by the virus, frozen stocks and foreign animals.

Animal activists hope the Danish debacle, which has had political repercussions in the country, will finish off the fur industry and demand for items such as $1,700 fur trinkets, $16,000 fur vests and $60,000 fur coats will disappear.

Countries and states which have already banned fur farms or fur products includes Britain, Austria, the Netherlands, France, Norway, Israel and California.

PJ Smith, director of fashion policy at Humane Society International, says that brands still using real fur will ditch it soon, following Gucci, Prada, Armani and others.

But for now, Kopenhagen Fur's Christensen said fashion brands in Europe had expressed concern they will not be able to find a similar quality to the Danish mink furs.


"One of the biggest challenges from the brand perspective is that the unique Danish qualities will be disappearing from the collection and you cannot source that product elsewhere."

He said he was looking at selling warehouse facilities and equipment such as automated vision machinery to grade the skins.

China, followed by Russia, is the biggest buyer of Danish fur as its own mink are considered of lower quality than those raised in Europe, where breeding standards are generally higher.

"We wouldn't choose Chinese-made fur due to its poor quality," Zhang Changping, owner of China's Fangtai Fur, told Reuters, adding that it had already bought enough fur at least for the first half of 2021.

Fangtai would shift to auctions in Finland if Denmark failed to supply enough mink in the future, he said.

Niccolò Ricci, chief executive of Italian luxury designer label Stefano Ricci which has many clients in Russia and eastern Europe, said he expected mink prices to increase by up to 50% but that high-end labels like his would continue to seek top quality pelts, mainly from U.S. suppliers.

"The real shortage could come from 2022, but by then we are hoping mink farmers in Canada, Poland, America and Greece will increase production to replace Danish output," said IFF head Mark Oaten. Russia and China are also expected to hike output.

"People will also be looking at other types of fur. Fox has been very popular for trimmings, in parkas for example. Wild fur is also becoming more popular, as is chinchilla," Oaten added.

(Reporting by Nikolaj Skydsgaard in Copenhagen and Silvia Aloisi in Milan; additional reporting by Shanghai newsroom and Sarah White in Paris; Editing by Vanessa O'Connell and Alexander Smith)

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for MINK (plawiuk.blogspot.com)

WEASAL FAMILY

Corona virus mutates rapidly in mink and ferrets. Should we be afraid?

By Matthew Rozsa, Salon- Commentary
November 29, 2020
  

Ferret outdoors. (Shutterstock)

2020 has been an unpredictable year, but it’s safe to say that even the most cynical doomsday preppers didn’t anticipate checking off “dead, coronavirus-infected mink rising from their graves” from their figurative 2020 bingo cards.

This article first appeared in Salon.

Yet that is precisely what has happened in Denmark, as thousands of mink have been killed and buried in shallow graves to halt the spread of SARS-CoV-2, according to The Guardian. Thankfully the mink did not rise up because they had been resurrected; the more innocuous, though still disgusting, explanation is that their bodies were bloated with decomposition gases and rose to the surface naturally because they had been buried en masse just below the surface.

This is not to say that the deceased mink — or their living counterparts — are not potentially disease vectors. Earlier this month Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was compelled to announce the mass killing of mink, and an end to mink farming for the foreseeable future, after health officials in that country discovered a cluster of SARS-CoV-2 mutations among both farmed mink and people. Scientists have long held concerns that mutations in the virus could limit the effectiveness of any potential coronavirus vaccine.

Less than two weeks later, Danish scientists revealed that they had taken genetic and experimental data on the mutations and found no evidence that they enabled the virus to be transmitted more easily among human beings. They also said that the data also did not indicate that the virus would be more deadly.


Despite these findings, however, scientists still determined that a mass culling of mink was necessary because the virus has been so prevalent among mink farms, with a resulting increase in the number of COVID-19 diagnoses in regions with mink farms.

Denmark is the world’s largest producer of mink pelts, but mink and other mustelidae like ferrets are renowned for their abilities as virus mutation factories. Because ferrets are the animals most like humans in terms of how their immune systems respond to influenza, scientists have experimented with them to make existing viruses more deadly, a biowarfare concept known as “gain of function” research. As The New York Times reported in 2012, “Working with ferrets, the animal that is most like humans in responding to influenza, researchers found that a mere five genetic mutations allowed the virus to spread through the air from one ferret to another while maintaining its lethality.”

It added, “A separate study at the University of Wisconsin, about which little is known publicly, produced a virus that is thought to be less virulent.”

Specifically, virologist Ron Fouchier of the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, revealed in 2011 that he was able to take an influenza virus that did not seem to be transmitted by air, and infected enough ferrets with it that it mutated to the point where it could be airborne. As Science Magazine reported at the time, “The virus is an H5N1 avian influenza strain that has been genetically altered and is now easily transmissible between ferrets, the animals that most closely mimic the human response to flu. Scientists believe it’s likely that the pathogen, if it emerged in nature or were released, would trigger an influenza pandemic, quite possibly with many millions of deaths.”

There was some less ominous news this week involving a study led by University College London researchers of virus genomes from more than 46,000 people with COVID-19 from 99 countries. As revealed in the scientific journal Nature Communications, scientists found that the mutations which have occurred so far in the novel coronavirus have not made COVID-19 spread more rapidly.

A weasel / ˈwiːzəl / is a mammal of the genus Mustela of the family Mustelidae. The genus Mustela includes the least weasels, polecats, stoats, ferrets and mink. Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slender bodies and short legs.

SEE  

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=MINK

#ENDFURFARMING

COVID-19: Outbreak declared at Fraser Valley mink farm

An outbreak has been declared at a Fraser Valley mink farm after eight people at the site tested positive for COVID-19

.

© Provided by Vancouver Sun FILE PHOTO — 

A COVID-19 outbreak has been declared at a Fraser Valley mink farm.

Fraser Health says a team is now screening all farm employees and conducting contact tracing, while the farm operators and affected staff are self-isolating.

“The mink farm has been ordered to restrict the transport of animals, products and goods from the farm,” Fraser Health said in a news release. “Animal welfare is being supported by the Ministry of Agriculture and testing of animals is underway. Enhanced measures are in place to ensure safety of animals and farm owners.”

Minks have been discovered to be susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 virus, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Last month, the government in Denmark, the world’s largest producer of mink pelts, ordered a massive cull of the country’s 17 million minks, which are farmed for their pelts, to head off infection carrying over to the human population.

To date, no infections have been reported in mink here in B.C., but outbreaks have killed thousands of the animals across the border at farms in Utah, Wisconsin, Michigan and Oregon.

There are 14 mink farms in the Fraser Valley. Fraser Health did not identify which farm had the outbreak.

A Fraser Health spokesperson told Postmedia that it is not known if any of the farm’s animals had been tested for the virus.

Earlier this fall, government officials inspected every mink farm in B.C. to ensure that all measures were being taken to make certain that the virus that causes COVID-19 does not pass between animals and humans.

“Ministry of Agriculture staff have been in contact with the province’s licensed mink farms within the last several months to ensure that all necessary precautions are being taken to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 through human to animal or animal to human transmission,” the ministry said.

The ministry said the farms had been advised to increase sanitation and enhance “biosecurity measures.”

Lesley Fox, the executive director for the Fur-Bearers, a charity group established to eradicate the commercial fur industry, said the Fraser Valley outbreak shows that the government’s safety measures weren’t good enough.

“The ministry knew this was a problem — they knew mink are highly susceptible to this virus and despite whatever efforts they made … it was a failure. They can’t contain it,” said Fox, who noted that her group had called on the ministry to conduct testing of both the mink and farm workers.

Fox said if animals on the farm are also infected, the potential for spread is huge.

“Those animals are kept in outdoor sheds and mink escape from farms all the time,” she said.

The Fur-Bearers launched a petition last week calling on the federal government to carry out testing on mink farms, develop a plan to quarantine and sanitize infected farms, and create a program to help mink farmers in transition away from the fur industry.

With files from Randy Shore and National Post