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2020 has been an unpredictable year, but it’s safe to say that even the most cynical end-of-the-world planners weren’t planning to check off “dead and coronavirus-infected minks coming out of their graves” from their 2020 figurative bingo cards. .
Yet that is precisely what happened in Denmark, as thousands of mink were killed and buried in shallow graves to stop the spread of SARS-CoV-2, according to The Guardian. Fortunately, the mink did not get up because it was resurrected; the most harmless, though still disgusting, explanation is that their bodies were swollen with decomposition gas and came to the surface naturally because they had been buried en masse just below the surface.
That’s not to say that dead mink – or their living counterparts – aren’t potentially disease vectors. Earlier this month, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was forced to announce the slaughter of mink and the end of mink farming for the foreseeable future, after that country’s health officials discovered a group of SARS-CoV-2 mutations among farmed mink and humans. Scientists have long feared mutations in the virus could limit the effectiveness of any potential vaccine against the coronavirus.
Less than two weeks later, Danish scientists revealed they had collected genetic and experimental data on the mutations and found no evidence that they allowed the virus to spread more easily between humans. They also said the data also did not indicate the virus would be more deadly.
Despite these findings, however, scientists have still determined that a mass slaughter of mink was necessary because the virus was so prevalent on mink farms, with a resulting increase in the number of COVID-19 diagnoses in areas with mink farms.
Denmark is the world’s largest producer of mink skins, but mink and others mustelids like ferrets are renowned for their abilities of viral mutation plants. Because ferrets are the animals most similar to humans in terms of their immune system’s response to influenza, scientists have been experimenting with them to make existing viruses more deadly, a concept of biological warfare known as research on. the “gain of function”. As the New York Times reported in 2012, “Working with ferrets, the animal that most resembles humans with influenza, researchers found that only five genetic mutations allowed the virus to spread through the air. ferret to ferret while maintaining its lethality. “
He added: “A separate study at the University of Wisconsin, of which little is known publicly, produced a virus believed to be less virulent.”
Specifically, virologist Ron Fouchier from the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam revealed in 2011 that he was able to pick up an influenza virus that did not appear to be transmitted by air, and was infecting enough ferrets to mutate. to the point where he could. be in the air. As Science Magazine reported at the time, “The virus is a strain of H5N1 bird flu that has been genetically modified and is now easily transmitted between ferrets, the animals that most closely mimic the human response to influenza. Scientists believe it is likely that the pathogen, if it emerged in nature or was released, would trigger an influenza pandemic, possibly with several million deaths. “
There was less disturbing news this week regarding a study by researchers at University College London into the viral genomes of more than 46,000 people with COVID-19 from 99 countries. As revealed in the scientific journal Nature Communications, scientists have found that the mutations that have occurred so far in the new coronavirus have not caused COVID-19 to spread faster.
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