Mink Mass Culling : Daily Current Affairs

Mink Mass Culling

Denmark is the world’s largest mink producer, with a 15-17 million strong mink population across 1,100 farms, according to The Copenhagen Post. The country’s mink population is valued at roughly 3 billion kroner.
The minks were likely infected following exposure to infected humans. Minks can not only serve as a reservoir for SARS-CoV-2, but are also capable of spreading it to humans.
Denmark, which has recorded more than 55,000 cases of COVID-19 so far, has also recorded over 200 human cases infected with SARS-CoV-2 variants that are associated with farmed minks.
After the Danish Public Health Authority (Statens Serum Institut) discovered the mutated version of coronavirus in mink, the government decided to cull all of the country’s over 17-million population of the animal.
As per the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration (DVFA), Denmark has experienced extensive spread of SARS-CoV-2 on mink farms since June 2020, which was followed by virus transmission between the animals and a “spill back” to humans. So far, over 207 farms in the country are infected.
As per the WHO, the severity, clinical presentation and transmission among those infected are similar to those of other circulating SARS-CoV-2 viruses. This variant mutation is named ‘cluster 5’
As per the WHO, six countries, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Italy and the US, have reported SARS-CoV-2 in farmed mink.

Minks are small semi-aquatic mammals raised for their fur. Mink oil is used in some medical products and cosmetics, as well as to treat, preserve and waterproof leather.
There are two extant species referred to as "mink" - the American mink and the European mink.
All European mink have a large white patch on their upper lip, whereas only some American mink have this marking, therefore, any mink without the patch is certainly of the American species.

It is an outbreak of a mutated variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
It was discovered in Northern Jutland, Denmark, and is believed to have been spread from minks to humans via mink farms.
The World Health Organization has stated that Cluster 5 has a "moderately decreased sensitivity to neutralizing antibodies".
This variant, which is referred to as the “cluster 5” variant, is characterised by a combination of mutations that have not been observed previously.
Denmark's State Serum Institute (SSI) warned that the mutation was unlikely to respond to COVID-19 vaccines under development.

It remains a concern when any animal virus spills in to the human population, or when an animal population could contribute to amplifying and spreading a virus affecting humans.
As viruses move between human and animal populations, genetic modifications in the virus can occur.
The precise implications of the identified changes in the variant are not yet known. But as per preliminary findings, one of the mink-associated variants identified in 12 humans so far may have moderately decreased sensitivity to neutralising antibodies.
This might mean that future vaccines may not work against this particular variant of the virus, which is why it is a risk to public health.

The WHO has said that further studies need to be carried out to evaluate the potential implications of this variant in terms of transmission, clinical presentation, diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccine development.
It has also said that based on the information available so far, countries should refrain from imposing any travel of trade restrictions on Denmark. Even so, the UK has imposed a ban on visitors from Denmark.
On 4 th November 2020, it was announced that the mink population in Denmark would be culled in order to prevent possible spread of this mutation, and that a lockdown and travel restrictions would be introduced in seven municipalities of Northern Jutland in order to prevent the mutation from spreading widely (which could compromise national or international responses to the COVID-19 pandemic).
Animals getting infected with SARS-CoV-2 remain a concern as the infected animals could contribute to amplifying and spreading the virus. While mutations arise even when the virus spreads amongst humans, genetic modifications in the virus not seen so far can occur when the virus jumps from humans to animals and back to humans, as seen now.
The spread of the variant from mink to humans “highlights the important role that farmed mink populations can play in the ongoing transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and the critical role of strong surveillance, sampling and sequencing SARS-CoV-2, especially around areas where such animal reservoirs are identified.