Enlarge / Minks are seen at a farm in Gjol, northern Denmark, on October 9, 2020. (credit score: Getty | Henning Bagger)
Between September to January of this 12 months, mink in three Polish farms examined constructive for the pandemic coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2— presenting a regarding thriller as to how the animals grew to become contaminated.
SARS-CoV-2 infections in mink aren’t significantly noteworthy or regarding on their very own; it is effectively established that mink are prone to the virus. The belief early within the pandemic resulted in intensive culls in Denmark and the Netherlands throughout 2020 and led to intensive monitoring and regulation of remaining mink herds in lots of locations, together with Poland.
However the latest circumstances in Polish mink, reported this week within the journal Eurosurveillance, are uncommon. Whereas earlier mink outbreaks have linked to contaminated farmworkers and native circulation of the virus—indicating human-to-mink unfold—not one of the farm staff or households within the just lately affected farms examined constructive for the virus. Actually, well being investigators discovered that the contaminated mink carried a pressure of SARS-CoV-2 that has not been seen in people within the area in additional than two years (B.1.1.307).
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