Covid 19 mutation in mink

[MRC_Hans]

I think there is a lot of political gold that can be mined here. The would-be opposition leader is trying to make it a case of tyrannical dictatorship vs. benign leadership, which he will represent if the voters vote him in at the next election.

You may be right. However, I would not bet to much on it, if I were him, unless he hopes to be able to provoke an election sometime soon. Otherwise there can be over two years till the next one, and by then we are hopefully mostly out of the fray, corona-wise, people will have forgotten this, and the present administration stand as the ones who saved us.

Hans

 

[dann]

Extinction!

Don't forget the good news today.
Cluster 5 er med stor sandsynlighed uddød, vurderer SSI (TV2.dk, Nov. 19, 2020)
There is high probability that Cluster 5 is now extinct, according to the State Serum Institute

 

[dann]

It's subtle if you're not used to looking at skulls.

I'm not!
They look much cuter with fur!

 

[dann]

After Denmark’s mink cull, questions over legality, science and what to do with ‘zombie minks’ (WP, Dec. 18, 2020)

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Did you all see that a wild mink turned up infected here? I didn't know we had wild minks here. Apparently we do.

ProMED: Published Date: 2020-12-13 22:18:34
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> COVID-19 update (536): animal, USA (UT) wild mink, 1st case
Archive Number: 20201213.8015608

CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 UPDATE (536): ANIMAL, USA (UTAH) WILD MINK, FIRST CASE

The USDA National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) has confirmed SARS-CoV-2 by real time RT-PCR and sequencing of a nasal swab collected from a free-ranging, wild mink sampled in Utah. To our knowledge, this is the 1st free-ranging, native wild animal confirmed with SARS-CoV-2.

APHIS has notified the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) of this detection in a wild mink as part of the epidemiological study in the surrounding area of the infected farm.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service conducted wildlife surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 in meso-carnivores and other species around infected mink farms in Utah, Michigan, and Wisconsin, USA between 24 Aug-30 Oct 2020. Surveillance was conducted as part of One Health investigations involving the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States Geological Survey, and State Departments of Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Health.

There is currently no evidence that SARS-CoV-2 is circulating or has been established in wild populations surrounding the infected mink farms. Several animals from different wildlife species were sampled, but all others tested negative.

The sequence of the viral genome obtained from the wild mink sample at NVSL was indistinguishable from those obtained from the farmed mink.

So the wild mink have been visiting the farm? Or the farmed mink went on a lark? Or the wild mink visit the waste area, get into some kind of runoff?

Or, the COVID went airborne on them.

 

[dann]

Danska minkodlare vill starta farmar i Sverige (Expressen.se, Jan. 2, 2021)
Danish mink farmers will start farms in Sweden

Denmark closed down all mink farms to avoid releasing a new mutation on the world that was immune to the vaccines. The Danish mink farmers are now welcomed with open arms in Sweden. It is obviously great news for the mink-coat industry that mutated coronavirus in mink aren't dangerous in Sweden ...

 

[The Atheist]

Denmark closed down all mink farms to avoid releasing a new mutation on the world that was immune to the vaccines.

Sorry mate, being fairly monolingual, I'm not sure whether you're taking the piss or if it's a claim made by the article, in which case, is there evidence regarding vaccines?

The Danish mink farmers are now welcomed with open arms in Sweden. It is obviously great news for the mink-coat industry that mutated coronavirus in mink aren't dangerous in Sweden ...

That isn't great news, because whether the vaccine threat is true or not, a ready-made animal reservoir isn't a good thing.

 

[dann]

Sorry mate, being fairly monolingual, I'm not sure whether you're taking the piss or if it's a claim made by the article, in which case, is there evidence regarding vaccines?

The preliminary findings were enough to make the government decide to cull all mink in Denmark.

Der er fundet danske minkvarianter af COVID-19, der viser tegn på at være mindre følsomme over for antistoffer fra personer, der har overstået en COVID-19-infektion.
(...)
Foreløbige undersøgelser tyder på, at dette virus fra cluster 5 udviser nedsat følsomhed for antistoffer fra flere personer med overstået infektion i forhold til ikke-muteret virus. Dette er påvist i laboratorieforsøg, hvor man ser, at det særlige minkvirus ikke i hæmmes i samme grad af antistoffer fra mennesker, som har været smittet med SARS-CoV-2 i forhold til andre ikke-muterede SARS-CoV-2 virus. Der er i øjeblikket undersøgelser i gang, som vil afdække problemstillingen yderligere.
Mutationer i minkvirus (SSI, Nov. 5, 2020)

Danish mink variants of COVID-19 have been found that show signs of being less sensitive to antibodies from people who have survived a COVID-19 infection.
(...)
Preliminary studies suggest that this virus from cluster 5 exhibits decreased susceptibility to antibodies from more individuals with past infection compared to non-mutated virus. This has been demonstrated in laboratory experiments, where it is seen that the particular mink virus is not inhibited to the same degree by antibodies from humans infected with SARS-CoV-2 compared to other non-mutated SARS-CoV-2 viruses. Studies are currently underway that will further uncover the issue.
Mutations in minkvirus

The problem with Sweden in this respect is that they don't even have the equipment to do the necessary gene-sequencing analysis to examine the mutations:

Sweden's ability to detect mutated variants of the coronavirus is too low and must be expanded, according to state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell.
Tegnell: Too low capacity to find mutations (Barometern.se, Dec. 29, 2020)

For this reason, they still have no idea how widespread the British mutation is in Sweden.

 

[The Atheist]

Preliminary studies suggest that this virus from cluster 5 exhibits decreased susceptibility to antibodies from more individuals with past infection compared to non-mutated virus. This has been demonstrated in laboratory experiments, where it is seen that the particular mink virus is not inhibited to the same degree by antibodies from humans infected with SARS-CoV-2 compared to other non-mutated SARS-CoV-2 viruses. Studies are currently underway that will further uncover the issue.

Thanks mate - that's not good at all.

I think the world would be wise to cut Sweden off.

 

[dann]

Unfortunately, Sweden is not the only country where enterprising farmers didn't see it as a warning signal but instead as an opportunity when the world's biggest producer of mink (and mink coats, I think) (Wikipedia) shut down the whole industry.

 

[Planigale]

The preliminary findings were enough to make the government decide to cull all mink in Denmark.


Danish mink variants of COVID-19 have been found that show signs of being less sensitive to antibodies from people who have survived a COVID-19 infection.
(...)
Preliminary studies suggest that this virus from cluster 5 exhibits decreased susceptibility to antibodies from more individuals with past infection compared to non-mutated virus. This has been demonstrated in laboratory experiments, where it is seen that the particular mink virus is not inhibited to the same degree by antibodies from humans infected with SARS-CoV-2 compared to other non-mutated SARS-CoV-2 viruses. Studies are currently underway that will further uncover the issue.
Mutations in minkvirus

The problem with Sweden in this respect is that they don't even have the equipment to do the necessary gene-sequencing analysis to examine the mutations:


For this reason, they still have no idea how widespread the British mutation is in Sweden.

Thank you. Interesting update. I appreciate your effort at translating these key comments.

 

[dann]

The Mink Pandemic Is No Joke - Nine countries have now reported outbreaks on mink farms. (Atlantic, Dec. 23, 2020)

One of the clusters (Cluster 5), which was reported as circulating in August and September 2020, is related to a variant with four genetic changes, three substitutions and one deletion, in the spike (S) protein. Since the S protein contains the receptor-binding domain, and is a major target for immune response, such mutations could, in theory, have implications for viral fitness (ability to infect humans and animals), transmissibility, and antigenicity. As a consequence, the evolution of viruses with increasing changes in functional domains of the S protein could affect treatment, certain diagnostic tests and virus antigenicity. It could also have an impact on the effectiveness of developed vaccine candidates, and possibly require them to be updated. Investigations and studies are ongoing to clarify the extent of these possible implications.
Rapid Risk Assessment: Detection of new SARS-CoV-2 variants related to mink (ECDC.europa.eu, Nov. 12, 2020)

 

[The Atheist]

The Mink Pandemic Is No Joke - Nine countries have now reported outbreaks on mink farms. (Atlantic, Dec. 23, 2020)

Well, if it causes a mutation that negates the virus, then we only have ourselves to blame. Given the pandemic started from an animal reservoir, offering it one in the form of animal farmed solely for its skin would be the most karmic result ever.

 

[Galaxie]

My state has also had outbreaks in mink, but no one seems to really care and our state legislature doesn't care at all:

More Than 3K Mink Dead From Coronavirus At Taylor County Mink Farm
https://www.wpr.org/more-3k-mink-dead-coronavirus-taylor-county-mink-farm



I actually thought all our mink farms had died out in the 1970's so I'm not surprised public awareness is practically nil.

 

[dann]

The Danish mink mutation now seems to have been successfully eradicated. At this point, all countries should be on the lookout for new ones.

Forskere har undersøgt 10,6 procent af de positive covid-prøver fra næstsidste uge i 2020.
I uge 52 fandt danske forskere ikke et eneste tilfælde af covid-19-smitte med den såkaldte minkmutation, der i 2020 lukkede minkbranchen i Danmark helt ned.
Forskere finder nul tilfælde af coronavirus fra mink i seneste prøver (TV2.dk, Jan. 6, 2020)

Researchers have analyzed 10.6 percent of the positive Covid-19 tests from week 52 in 2020.
In week 52 (Dec. 21-27), researchers did not find a single case of Covid-19 infection with the so-called mink mutation, which shut down the mink trade in Denmark completely in 2020.
Researchers find zero cases of coronavirus from mink in most recent samples

 

[dann]

Now Sweden also puts a stop to mink farming for the rest of 2021: Sverige stopper opdræt af mink i resten af 2021 (DR.dk, Jan. 27, 2021)

 

[dann]

It may have been eliminated in Denmark, the Cluster-5 mutation, but it wasn't eradicated, apparently:
Dansk mink-variant fundet i Bayern – et dødsfald (Nordtinget.dk, Feb. 15, 2021)
Danish mink variant found in Bavaria - one death

Corona: Eigentlich galt sie als ausgerottet. Tier-Mutatation in Bayern plötzlich erneut aufgetaucht (Merkur.de, Feb. 16, 2021)

 

[casebro]

How do you think them little minkies will like wearing masks?

 

[dann]

It's training them to sneeze into their elbows that has been the problem.
Anyway, there aren't any mink left in Denmark at this point.

 

[dann]

It may have been eliminated in Denmark, the Cluster-5 mutation, but it wasn't eradicated, apparently:
Dansk mink-variant fundet i Bayern – et dødsfald (Nordtinget.dk, Feb. 15, 2021)
Danish mink variant found in Bavaria - one death

Corona: Eigentlich galt sie als ausgerottet. Tier-Mutatation in Bayern plötzlich erneut aufgetaucht (Merkur.de, Feb. 16, 2021)

Or maybe not:

Ein Ministeriumssprecher sagt auf Nachfrage: „Für uns bleibt es bei einer Verdachtslage. Ein PCR-Test zur Bestimmung einer Mutation ersetzt unserer Ansicht nach keine Genom-Sequenzierung.“ Demnach kann von offizieller Seite aktuell nicht bestätigt werden, dass es sich bei den sechs Fällen tatsächlich um die dänische Mutation handelt.
Ist die dänische Coronavirus-Mutation in Bayern angekommen? (Augsburger-Allgemeine.de, Jan. 27, 2021)

When asked, a spokesperson for the ministry said: “For us it remains a suspicion. In our opinion, a PCR test to determine a mutation is no substitute for genome sequencing." So for the time being, it cannot be officially confirmed that the six cases are actually cases of the Danish mutation.
Has the Danish coronavirus mutation come to Bavaria?