A wild mink in Utah tested positive for the coronavirus. Mink on fur farms in the area became infected with the virus, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, along with other government agencies, tested wildlife for possible infections that could spread from those farms.
The division reported the case to the World Organization for Animal Health, noting that it appeared to be the first wild animal to naturally become infected with the virus that has infected mink in a number of fur farms around the world.
The virus has spread from people to mink and in some cases back again. A mutant strain of the virus that jumped back to humans from the mink caused Denmark to kill all of its mink and wiped out a large industry. No further evidence has supported initial concerns that the mutated variant of the virus might affect the usefulness of vaccines, but scientists are still concerned about how easily the virus can spread on mink farms.
“This is an important reminder that farm (and human) resorting to wildlife is also a real thing and needs to be on our radar,” said Jonathan Epstein, vice president of science and outreach for the EcoHealth Alliance, of the positive test in wild mink. Dr. Epstein and other scientists and conservationists have warned of the possibility that the coronavirus could establish itself in some wildlife species.
ProMed, an information site for the International Society for Infectious Diseases, published a note from Thomas DeLiberto and Susan Shriner of the Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Phytosanitary Inspection Service describing the test results.
They said that the positive test showed a virus with the same genome that had been found in infected mink, but that a test did not mean the virus was now spreading in the wild. “There is currently no evidence that SARS-CoV-2 was circulated or established in wild populations around the infected mink farms. Several animals from different wild animal species were sampled, all the others tested negative, ”the statement said.
“Finding a virus in a wild mink but not in other nearby wildlife likely indicates an isolated event, but we should take all of this information seriously,” said Tony L. Goldberg of the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine -Madison. He added, “Controlling viruses in humans is ultimately the best way to prevent them from spreading to animals.”
