[ad_1]
“The worst-case scenario is a new pandemic, which starts again from Denmark,” said a serious Kåre Mølbak, director of Danish health authorities, the National Serum Institute. According to the Institute, COVID-19 infections have been recorded at 216 mink farms on November 6. Not only had such infections been recorded; new variants, five different groups in all, were also found. Variants of mink were also detected in 214 people among 5,102 samples, 200 of whom live in the North Jutland region.
A noticeable shudder of fear ran through the public health community. It was already known that minks are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2. On April 23 and 25, outbreaks linked to mink farms have been reported on holdings in the Netherlands with 12,000 and 7,500 animals respectively. The mink had been infected by a farm worker with COVID-19 and, like humans, was found to be either asymptomatic or obviously ill with symptoms such as intestinal pneumonia. Over time, 12 of the 130 Dutch mink farms were hit. What interested the researchers was the level of virulence in the transmission of the virus through the population. “Although SARS-CoV-2 undergoes many mutations as it spreads through mink,” written Martin Enserik for Science, “its virulence shows no signs of increasing.”
The Danish findings, however, fueled another concern: the possibility that the Group 5 virus, as identified by the Institute, is more resistant to human antibodies infected with SARS-CoV-2 compared to others. SARS-CoV not mutated. 2 viruses. In other words, potential vaccines could be at risk of obsolescence. “It hits all the scary buttons,” claims evolutionary biologist Carl Bergstrom.
In his November 6 ReportTyra Grove Krause, head of the epidemiology and infectious disease prevention department at ISS, declined to strike the doomsday registry. But she was nonetheless extremely careful. “We definitely need to do more studies on this specific variant and its possible effects on future vaccines, but it takes a long time to do these kinds of studies.” But she was not in the mood to wait to “get all the evidence” given the possible risks. “You must act in time to stop the transmission.”
The World Health Organization tries to reassure, and while this is welcome, the public image of this organization has often been unfairly tarnished by its initial approach to the novel coronavirus. In one declaration to National Geographic, the WHO admitted to worry “when a virus has passed from humans to animals and then back to humans.” Each time that happens, it can change more. But WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan refrained from drawing any conclusions from Denmark’s current crop of disclosures. “We have to wait and see what the implications are, but I don’t think we should draw any conclusions as to whether this particular mutation is going to impact the effectiveness of vaccines.”
François Balloux, director of the Genetics Institute at University College London, is doing also his own bet on infectious diseases, delighted by this “fantastically interesting” scenario. “I don’t think a strain that adapts to mink poses a higher risk to humans.” It comes with a qualification, of course. “We can never rule anything out, but in principle it shouldn’t. It certainly shouldn’t increase the transmission. I don’t see any good reason why this should make the virus worse. “
In Denmark, no scientific chance is taken on the issue of virulence or the efficacy of vaccines. The entire 17 million mink herd is slaughtered. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has tried to see the problems in her country and its mink industry in humanitarian terms. “We have a great responsibility towards our population”, she explained Wednesday, “but with the mutation that has now been seen, we have an even greater responsibility for the rest of the world.” Residents of seven regions of North Jutland were also said “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 on us. “
Despite the immediate and effective destruction of an industry, Mogens Jensen, Minister of Food and Fisheries, declared that it would be “the right thing to do in a situation where the vaccine, which is currently light at the end of a very dark tunnel, is in danger.” Magnus Heunicke, Minister of Health, also reiterated the fact that “rearing mink during the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic carries a possible risk to public health – and to the possibilities of fighting COVID-19 with vaccines.”
The inevitably callous and brutal measure means that the animals concerned and an industry are confined to history. Animal welfare advocates see mixed promises in the measure: cruelty in slaughter, but hope in eradicating a trade. “The right decision,” according to at Animal Protection Denmark, “would be to end mink farming and help farmers to [another] a profession that does not endanger public health and animal welfare. “
Joanna Swabe, Senior Director of Public Affairs, Humane Society International / Europe, express pleasure to what was otherwise a grim end for Denmark’s mink population. As one of the largest fur producers in the global market, “the total closure of all Danish mink fur farms amid the spiral of COVID-19 infections is an important development”. She even went so far as to congratulate the Danish Prime Minister on the “decision to take such an essential and scientific measure to protect Danish citizens from the deadly coronavirus”.
Lobbyists and fur traders, while accepting the health risks, have expressed reservations about the absolute nature of the Danish response. Magnus Ljung, CEO of Saga Furs, noted how the control of COVID-19 infections in mink populations has been achieved in the Netherlands and Spain without the need for mass slaughter. Mick Madsen from the Brussels industrial group Fur Europe accepted that “public safety must come first”, but urged the Danish authorities to “publish their research for review by international scientists”.
In the United States, mass slaughter has yet to take off. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention remains indifferent to any drastic measures, despite cases of coronavirus contracted on mink farms in Utah, Wisconsin and Michigan. Transmission to humans has not yet been documented, although spokesperson Jasmine Reed Noted “Ongoing” investigations.
Close scrutiny by international sources regarding Denmark’s decision is ongoing, although it is in the order of modest skepticism. Marion Koopmans from the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, recalling research on mink epidemics in Dutch mink populations, took into consideration the assertion about a resistant mutation is bold. “It’s a very big statement. One mutation, I wouldn’t expect to have such a dramatic effect. Emma Hodcroft, molecular epidemiologist based at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine in Bern, Switzerland, was also doubtful. “It’s hardly ever the case that it’s such a simple story of a mutation and all of your vaccines stop working.”
After the Great Mink Slaughter in Denmark, Prime Minister Frederiksen’s decision may well have been less “scientific” than previously assumed. This does not deter Hodcroft, who warmly embraces the Danish approach of “taking a step too far rather than a step too small”. Pity the mink, then.
[ad_2]
Source link