Both the American mink and the European mink have shown high susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 since the earliest stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, first in mink farms across Europe, followed by mink farms in the United States.[1] Mortality has been extremely high among mink, with 35–55% of infected adult animals dying from COVID-19 in a study of farmed mink in the U.S. state of Utah.[2]

In November 2020, in Denmark, it was announced that all mink nationwide were being slaughtered due to reports that a mutated SARS-CoV-2 virus was being passed from mink to humans via mink farms, and that at least 12 human infections had been discovered in Northern Jutland. While the State Serum Institute (SSI, Statens Serum Institut) suggested that this mutation was no more dangerous than other coronaviruses, SSI head Kåre Mølbak warned that the mutation could impact the development and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines.[3][4]

The first known transmission of SARS-CoV-2 among wild mink was reported in Utah, which researchers believed was due to contact with infected captive mink rather than through an intermediary vector in the wild or direct human-to-mink transmission.[1] Tracking the origin and spread of mink-related COVID variants has proven more difficult in the United States, where the reporting of outbreaks on mink farms has been voluntary, as opposed to the mandatory screening procedures introduced during outbreaks in Denmark and the Netherlands.[5]

Transmission

Due to the mink ACE2 receptor being a similar or better fit for SARS-CoV-2 compared to humans and the cramped living conditions of farm-raised animals, mink readily transmit SARS-CoV-2 to one another and develop symptoms of COVID-19.[6] Additionally, Dutch researchers determined that the bedding materials and airborne dust on mink farms with outbreaks had also become highly contaminated.[7]

Mutations and variants

In Denmark, there have been five clusters of mink variants of SARS-CoV-2; the Danish State Serum Institute (SSI) has designated these as clusters 1–5 (Danish: cluster 1–5). In Cluster 5, also referred to as ΔFVI‑spike by the SSI,[8] several different mutations in the spike protein of the virus have been confirmed. The specific mutations include 69–70deltaHV (a deletion of the histidine and valine residues at the 69th and 70th position in the protein), Y453F (a change from tyrosine to phenylalanine at position 453, inside the spike protein's receptor-binding domain), I692V (isoleucine to valine at position 692), M1229I (methionine to isoleucine at position 1229), and a non-conservative substitution S1147L.[9][8][4]

In North America, a mink-human spillover event in Michigan, resulting in four human infections that were largely kept from public view upon their discovery late 2020, and only announced by the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in March 2021, was deemed ancestral to the Ontario WTD clade spillover event from white-tailed deer nearly a year later in Ontario, Canada.[10][11][12] The Michigan spillback into humans was the first documented case of any animal spillback in the United States.[13]

In late 2022, scientists continued to monitor residual Delta strains, such as Delta strain AY.103, which have picked up Omicron mutations during co-infection in mink and deer and form the potential for so-called "Deltacron" spillover events. These hybrid strains could potentially combine the increased fatality rate of Delta with the enhanced transmissibility of Omicron.[14]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Devaux, Christian; Pinault, Lucile; Delerce, Jérémy; Raoult, Didier; Levasseur, Anthony; Frutos, Roger (20 September 2021). "Spread of Mink SARS-CoV-2 Variants in Humans: A Model of Sarbecovirus Interspecies Evolution". Frontiers in Microbiology. 12: 675528. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2021.675528. PMC 8488371. PMID 34616371.
  2. ↑ Eckstrand, Chrissy; Baldwin, Thomas; Rood, Kerry; Clayton, Michael; Lott, Jason; Wolking, Rebecca; Bradway, Daniel; Baszler, Timothy (12 November 2021). "An outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 with high mortality in mink (Neovison vison) on multiple Utah farms". PLOS Pathogens. 17 (11): e1009952. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1009952. PMC 8589170. PMID 34767598.
  3. ↑ Gorman, James (2020-11-04). "Denmark Will Kill All Farmed Mink, Citing Coronavirus Infections". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 9 February 2021. Retrieved 2020-11-06.
  4. 1 2 Grove Krause, Tyra. "Mutationer i minkvirus" (in Danish). Statens Serum Institut. Archived from the original on 7 January 2021. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  5. ↑ Emily, Anthes (May 22, 2022). "The Michigan Mink Mystery: How Did an Interspecies Outbreak Unfold?". New York Times. Archived from the original on May 22, 2022. Retrieved May 22, 2022.
  6. ↑ Greenberg, Alissa (5 March 2021). "What's the deal with mink Covid?". PBS. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  7. ↑ de Rooij, Myrna; Hakze-Van der Honing, Renate; Hulst, Marcel; Harders, Frank; Engelsma, Marc; van de Hoef, Wouter; Meliefste, Kees; Nieuwenweg, Sigrid; Oude Munnink, Bas; van Schothorst, Isabella; Sikkema, Reina; van der Spek, Arco; Spierenburg, Marcel; Spithoven, Jack; Bouwstra, Ruth; Molenaar, Robert-Jan; Koopmans, Marion; Stegeman, Arjan; van der Poel, Wim; Smit, Lidwien (December 2021). "Occupational and environmental exposure to SARS-CoV-2 in and around infected mink farms". Occupational & Environmental Medicine. 78 (12): 893–899. doi:10.1136/oemed-2021-107443. PMC 8327637. PMID 34330815.
  8. 1 2 Lassaunière, Ria (11 November 2020). "SARS-CoV-2 spike mutations arising in Danish mink and their spread to humans". Statens Serum Institut. Archived from the original on 10 November 2020. Retrieved 11 November 2020. [...] (hereafter referred to as ΔFVI-spike). [...] These include: i) 69-70deltaHV – a deletion of a histidine and valine at amino acid positions 69 and 70 in the N-terminal domain of the S1 subunit; ii) I692V – a conservative substitution at position 692 that is located seven amino acids downstream of the furin cleavage site; iii) S1147L – a non-conservative substitution at position 1147 in the S2 subunit; and iv) M1229I – a conservative substitution located within the transmembrane domain
  9. ↑ "Rapid Risk Assessment: Detection of new SARS-CoV-2 variants related to mink". European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. 12 November 2020. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  10. ↑ Fine Maron, Dina (5 April 2022). "Government documents reveal CDC delayed disclosing likely COVID-19 animal spillover event". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 8 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  11. ↑ Miranda, Gabriela (3 March 2022). "New COVID variant found in deer shows signs of possible deer-to-human transmission". USA Today. Archived from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  12. ↑ Goodman, Brenda (2 March 2022). "A highly changed coronavirus variant was found in deer after nearly a year in hiding, researchers suggest". CNN. Archived from the original on 3 March 2022. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  13. ↑ Jordan Shamus, Kristen (17 April 2022). "4 Michiganders with COVID-19 strain unique to mink were likely 1st U.S. spillover cases". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  14. ↑ Prater, Erin (1 November 2022). "Scientists have their eyes on several 'Deltacrons'—new COVID variants with the potential to attack the lungs like Delta and spread as easily as Omicron". Forbes. Archived from the original on 3 November 2022. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
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