Coronavirus: Scientists Investigate Virus Outbreaks Among Minks in Europe

In July, Science Times reported that around 600,000 minks in the Netherlands have died of coronavirus. The same thing has also happened to the minks in Spain as the government ordered to cull almost 100,000 minks in early July.

As of today, authorities have killed more than 1 million minks at breeding farms in Spain and Netherland as a precaution.

These incidents in minks have baffled many scientists and led them to start a study aimed to find out how animals got infected from coronavirus and whether they can spread it to people.

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, first infected people in China in December 2019 and was believed to come from bats before it spread to people like the past coronaviruses. There have been reports of animals like cats, tigers, and dogs getting infected from humans, but there are no reports of spreading it back to humans.

Read: 600,000 Minks Have Died of Coronavirus in the Netherlands, Possibly Ending the Pelt Industry

Coronavirus in Minks

Officials in the Netherlands and Spain suspect that minks in their country got the virus from an infected worker. However, there is also another theory that suggests that humans got it from minks and then infected back the minks.

The Dutch government and scientists are now investigating whether that was the case and how much threat it will be to humans.

Meanwhile, the same outbreak was recorded in Spain when a mink farm near La Puebla Velverde's 14 employees got infected. Soon, about 100,000 minks were ordered to be killed at the Aragon farm of northeastern Spain. It is estimated that nine out of 10 animals have contracted the virus.

Veterinarian Wim van der Poel, a professor who studies viruses at Wageningen University and Research, determined that the virus found in minks in the Netherlands was similar to the virus that is spreading in humans.

He and his team assumed that it is possible that the virus would be transmitted back to people again. If proven true, these would be the first documented incident of animal-to-human transmission, said Richard Ostfeld, a researcher from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies.

Moreover, the U.S. CDC said that some coronaviruses that infect animals could also spread to humans and then spread to other people, but it could be rare.

WHO, the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health, and several universities and research institutes are now studying the transmission of the virus between the animals and people.

More Than 1 Million Minks Killed

Scientists think that the coronavirus could have come from the bats and then infected another animal before it was transmitted to humans. A team from the WHO is now in China to investigate this issue.

Over 1 million minks have been killed in Dutch farms after the outbreak, said the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority. The country which has 126 mink farms is famous for being the top producer of the prized mink fur.

Both countries have already tightened their hygiene protocols at mink farms and banned their transportation and visits to buildings where the animals are kept.

Unlike the Netherlands, China, and the United States two countries who also produce mink fur have not reported any virus outbreaks in minks or other animals in other farms.