A wild mink tested positive for coronavirus earlier this month in Oregon, and raised some alarms about the mutation potential of COVID-19 strains.
In a statement, the Oregon Department of Agriculture announced that the mink received a positive test from the USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory, confirmed Dec. 22 after being captured Dec. 13.
According to reports, the mink only had low levels of virus in its system.
He reportedly escaped from a mink farm in Oregon that was in quarantine since ten mink samples tested positive for coronavirus in late November.
A wild mink has tested positive for coronavirus in Oregon. In the photo: A mink in Denmark
The mink in Oregon was one of nine animals that escaped from a farm where a mink outbreak had already occurred; the other animals did not test positive. In the picture: A mink in Denmark
Along with the affected mink, three cats and five wild opossums also escaped from the farm in quarantine, although none of the other animals tested positive for COVID.
“It’s more than outrageous that an infected mink can escape even from a quarantined fur farm, endangering countless wild animals from contracting the virus,” the health director told The Oregonian Environmental Center for Biological Diversity, Lori Ann Burd.
“As much as I hope this case of COVID-19 is limited to a mink they tested in the wild, we know that this virus is highly contagious and that one case is growing rapidly in many.”
Burd warned in an opinion column on OregonLive that infected mink “could not only spread the virus among wild mink, but could lead to a mutant viral strain that threatens to compromise our newly minted vaccines.”
Meanwhile, it appears the farm problem has been suffered, according to the Department of Agriculture.
Only one of the 62 minks tested positive for coronavirus on Dec. 7 and about Dec. 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 established in the wild,” reports ODA Dr. Ryan Scholz. ‘Samples were taken from several animals of different species and all the others were negative. However, we take this situation very seriously and continue to explore and capture near the farm.
Of the minks still found on the farm in question, none have been positive recently and the quarantine on the farm has almost ended. Pictured: a wild mink in Minnesota
The outbreak comes after Denmark ordered the killing of 17 million minks to prevent mink infections in humans after 12 cases in the country
Dr. Scholz continued, “In addition, we have asked the USDA to perform additional tests on the trapped mink, including viral genome sequencing and a DNA test to make sure we know exactly where that mink came from.”
Farm minks are thought to have contracted a human coronavirus, which is why the ODA does not publish the name of the farm; they protect a person’s private state of health.
The Capital Press reports that there are only 11 mink farms authorized in the state, however, with eight in Marion County, two in Clatsop County and one in Linn County.
The only states that produce more skin than Oregon are Wisconsin, Utah and Idaho.
Concerns about the mink outbreak in Oregon come after the devastation of the mink community in Denmark.
After twelve people in the country became COVID-19 positive for mink exposure, the country ordered to kill the country’s 17 million minks.
However, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen apologizes for the decision, as dead minks begin to emerge from the ground.
There is evidence that coronavirus has the ability to mutate, which could negatively affect vaccines that are being rolled out around the world.
South Africa and the United Kingdom are among the countries that have announced new strains of the virus circulating across their respective borders.
Meanwhile, the United States is still trying to control the initial outbreak of COVID-19.
There have now been more than 18 million cases of coronavirus in the country, with a death toll of 330,279 people.
There have now been more than 18 million cases of COVID-19 in the United States since March