Six countries have already recorded cases of coronavirus in …

After Denmark warned that the effectiveness of most vaccines could be affected by a new strain linked to mink, which in that country determined the slaughter of 17 million mink specimens and the imposition of a quarantine regional, The World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Saturday that six countries have already reported cases of coronavirus in mink farms.

“So far, six countries, namely: Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Italy and the United States have reported cases of SARS-CoV-2 in herds from mink to the World Organization for Animal Health, ”the WHO said in a statement.

If for the scientific community the mutation of a virus is something trivial and often without consequences, in the case of this strain, called “Cluster 5”, this implies reduced efficacy of human antibodies, which threatens the effectiveness of a vaccine against Covid-19, according to initial studies.

“This variant exhibits a combination of mutations or changes that had not been observed before,” said the WHO, and stressed that “the changes identified in this variant were not yet fully understood.”

Preliminary results indicate that this particular strain associated with mink has “moderately reduced susceptibility to neutralizing antibodies,” noted the international health organization.

In turn, he recalled that “although it is believed that the virus is ancestrally associated with bats, the origin of the virus and the intermediate transmitter (s) of SARS-CoV-2 have not yet been identified. “..

SARS-CoV-2 mutation detected in 214 people

The SARS-CoV-2 virus mutation found in mink in Denmark has been detected in 214 infected people in the country, according to the latest data released by the Statens Serum Institute, the Danish reference center for infectious diseases. Of those infected, 14 have been recorded outside the North Jutland region, where the new movement restrictions apply.

“Infection in mink farms is increasing in number and geographic extent, without preventive measures having worked”, admitted the Statens Serum Institut. “New mink variants of Covid-19 have been observed, showing reduced sensitivity to antibodies from several people with a history of infection. This is serious, because it may mean that a future Covid-19 vaccine will be less effective against infection with these variants, ”the Danish institute warned.

He also said that the infections have been detected in people who work in mink farms but also among the local population. In all, Five variants of SARS-CoV-2 have been found in mink and one of them “shows less sensitivity to the antibodies of several individuals with previous infections compared to the unmutated virus”.

This variant, underlines the Statens Serum Institut, was specifically recorded in five mink farms and in twelve samples of human infections during the months of August and September.