A wild mink tested positive for the coronavirus in Oregon earlier this month, raising alarm bells about the possibility that COVID-19 strains could mutate.
In a release, the Oregon Department of Agriculture announced that the mink received a positive test from the USDA National Veterinary Services Laboratory, confirmed Dec. 22 after being captured on Dec. 13.
The mink reportedly had only low levels of the virus in its system.
It has reportedly escaped a mink farm in Oregon that has been quarantined since ten mink samples tested positive for the coronavirus in late November.
A wild mink has tested positive for the coronavirus in Oregon. Pictured: a mink in Denmark
The Oregon mink was one of nine animals that escaped from a farm where a mink outbreak had already occurred – the other animals did not test positive. Pictured: a mink in Denmark
Along with the affected mink, three cats and five wild opossums also escaped from the quarantined farm, although none of the other animals tested positive for COVID.
“ It is extremely outrageous that an infected mink could escape even a quarantined fur farm, putting an untold number of wild animals at risk of contracting the virus, ” said Lori Ann Burd, director of environmental health at the Center for Biological Diversity. against The Oregonian.
“As much as I hope this case of COVID-19 will be limited to the minks they’ve tested in the wild, we know this virus is highly contagious and that one case quickly grows into many.”
Burd warned in an opinion column on OregonLive that infected minks can “not only spread the virus among wild minks, but also give rise to a mutant viral strain that threatens our newly minted vaccines.”
In the meantime, the problem appears to have been solved on the farm itself, the Ministry of Agriculture said.
Only one of the 62 minks tested positive for the coronavirus on December 7 and none did on December 21, meaning the quarantine will end pending the results of a final round of testing.
“There is no evidence that SARS-CoV-2 is circulating or has been identified in the wild,” reports Dr Ryan Scholz of the ODA. Several animals of different species were sampled and all others were negative. Still, we take this situation very seriously and continue to inspect and catch near the farm. ‘
Of the mink still on the farm in question, none have recently tested positive and the quarantine on the farm is almost over. Pictured: A wild mink in Minnesota
The outbreak comes after Denmark ordered the killing of 17 million minks to prevent mink-to-human infections after 12 cases occurred in the country
Dr. Scholz continued, “ We also asked USDA to run additional tests on the captured minks, including viral genome sequencing and a DNA test to make sure we know exactly where these minks come from. ‘
The mink on the farm is said to have contracted the coronavirus from a human, which is why the ODA is not releasing the farm’s name; they protect the personal health of an individual.
The Capital Press reports that there are only eleven permitted mink farms in the state, with eight in Marion County, two in Clatsop County, and one in Linn County.
The only states that produce more hides than Oregon are Wisconsin, Utah, and Idaho.
Concerns about the Oregon mink outbreak are on the heels of devastation in Denmark’s mink community.
After 12 people in the country became COVID-19 positive from exposure to mink, the country ordered that the country’s 17 million mink be killed.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen now apologizes for the decision, as the dead minks begin to emerge from the ground.
There is some evidence that the coronavirus has the potential to mutate, which could adversely affect the vaccines being rolled out around the world.
South Africa and the United Kingdom are among the countries that have announced that new strains of viruses are circulating within their respective borders.
The United States, meanwhile, is still trying to get a grip on the first outbreak of COVID-19.
There are now more than 18 million cases of coronavirus in the country, with a death toll of 330,279 people.
As of March, there have now been more than 18 million COVID-19 cases in the United States