Mink infected with COVID-19 have been spotted on a second breeding farm in British Columbia, officials said Thursday.
• Read also – British Columbia: mink infected with COVID-19
According to the Department of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, 23 mink from a Fraser Valley farm with about 1,000 animals died from December 19 to 23. Of those, three had contracted the coronavirus, tests carried out on animal carcasses have shown.
“How the mink contracted the virus is not known at this time and the ministry is currently working with owners to identify potential sources,” it said in a statement.
This is the second time this month that a Canadian breeding farm has found itself with mink contaminated with SARS-CoV-2. Earlier in December, another facility in the Fraser Valley reported the deaths of about 200 of its animals. Several of them, as well as employees, had been diagnosed with COVID-19.
Since then, the outbreak seems to have subsided on this farm, where no symptoms were observed after the death episode.
Since the strain of coronavirus that infected minks is virtually identical to that circulating among humans, authorities believe the animals were infected through contact with infected people.
Experts fear that the virus could mutate by being transmitted to mink. Should this occur and its genetic profile changes sufficiently, the appearance of a new form of COVID-19 could jeopardize the authorities’ efforts to inoculate the population against the virus, even as vaccination campaigns get underway. in the world.
To date, mink are the only known animals that can contract the virus from humans, as well as transmit it to other people.
Denmark had taken the big steps this fall, after the contamination of herds, by exterminating millions of mink, a decision which had caused an uproar in this country.
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