Page 29 - bon-dia-aruba-20200803

A29
SCIENCE Monday 3 august 2020
Scientists study coronavirus outbreaks among minks in Europe

By ARITZ PARRA and MIKE Verhagen, director of the
CORDER Dutch federation of fur
MADRID (AP) — Coronavi- farmers. Spain has 38 ac-
rus outbreaks at mink farms tive mink breeding opera-
in Spain and the Nether- tions, most of them in north-
lands have scientists dig- western Galicia.
ging into how the animals Both Spain and the Neth-
got infected and if they erlands have tightened
can spread it to people. hygiene protocols at mink
In the meantime, authori- farms and banned trans-
ties have killed more than portation of the animals
1 million minks at breeding and visits to the buildings
farms in both countries as a where they are kept.
precaution. China, which produces
The virus that first infected about a third of the mink
people in China late last fur market, and the United
year came from an animal States have not report-
source, probably bats, and ed any virus outbreaks in
later spread from person to minks or in animals at other
person, as other coronavi- farms.q
ruses had done in the past.
Some animals, including
cats, tigers and dogs, have
picked up the new corona-
virus from people, but there
hasn't been a documented
case of animals spreading
it back to humans.
The outbreaks among the
minks on farms in the Neth- In this Dec. 6, 2012, file photo, minks look out of a cage at a fur farm in the village of Litusovo,
erlands and Spain likely northeast of Minsk, Belarus.
started with infected work- Associated Press
ers, although officials aren't
certain. But it also is "plausi- mans. that infect animals can (the virus)," she said, refer-
ble" that some workers later "We assumed it was pos- be spread to humans and ring to cases in the Nether-
caught the virus back from sible that it would be trans- then spread between peo- lands and Denmark, anoth-
the minks, the Dutch gov- mitted back to people ple, but it adds that this is er major producer of mink
ernment and a researcher again," the virus expert rare. fur.
said, and scientists are ex- said, and that's what ap- Both the World Health Or- While scientists think the
ploring whether that was peared to have happened ganization and the Paris- virus originated in bats, it
the case and how much with at least two of the in- based World Organisation may have passed through
of a threat such a spread fected workers. for Animal Health are study- another animal before in-
might be. Richard Ostfeld, a re- ing the transmission of the fecting people. A WHO
The outbreak at the Span- searcher at the Cary Insti- virus between animals and team is currently in China,
ish mink farm near La Pueb- tute of Ecosystem Studies people. Several universities planning to study the issue.
la de Valverde, a village in Millbrook, New York, said and research institutes also More than 1.1 million minks
of 500 people, was discov- that if confirmed, these are examining the issue. have been killed on 26
ered after seven of the 14 would be the first known The WHO has noted that Dutch farms that recorded
employees, including the instances of animal-to-hu- the transmission on the mink outbreaks, according to
owner, tested positive in man transmission. breeding farms could have the Netherlands Food and
late May, said Joaquín Olo- "With the evidence for happened both ways. But Consumer Product Safety
na, regional chief of agri- farmed mink-to-human WHO's Dr. Maria Van Kerk- Authority. The government
culture and environment. transmission, we definitely hove said at a news con- announced Thursday that
Two other employees got need to be concerned with ference last month that minks at a 27th farm also
infected even after the op- the potential for domesti- such transmission was "very were infected and would
eration was shut down. cated animals that are in- limited." be killed.
More than 92,000 minks fected to pass on their in- "This gives us some clues The Netherlands, which
were ordered killed at the fection to us," Ostfeld said about which animals may has some 160 mink farms,
farm in the Aragon region by email. be susceptible to infection is the world's fourth-biggest
of northeastern Spain, with The U.S. Centers for Disease and this will help us as we producer of the prized fur
nine out of 10 animals esti- Control and Prevention learn more about the po- after Denmark, China and
mated to have contracted says some coronaviruses tential animal reservoir of Poland, according to Wim
the virus.
After the Dutch outbreaks
began in April, professor
Wim van der Poel, a veteri-
narian who studies viruses
at Wageningen University
and Research, determined
that the virus strain in the
animals was similar to the
one circulating among hu-