Mink, SARS-CoV-2, and the Human-Animal Interface

Abstract

Mink are small carnivores of the Mustelidae family. The American mink is the most common and was imported to Europe, Asia, and Latin America for breeding, as its fur is very popular. Denmark, the Netherlands, and China are the biggest producers of mink. Mink farms with a high population density in very small areas and a low level of genetic heterogeneity are places conducive to contagion. The mink’s receptor for SARS-CoV-2 is very similar to that of humans. Experimental models have shown the susceptibility of the ferret, another mustelid, to become infected with SARS-CoV-2 and to transmit it to other ferrets. On April 23, 2020, for the first time, an outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 in a mink farm was reported in the Netherlands. Since then, COVID-19 has reached numerous mink farms in the Netherlands, Denmark, United States, France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Poland, Lithuania, and Canada. Not only do mink become infected from each other, but also they are capable of infecting humans, including with virus variants that have mutated in mink. Human infection with variant mink viruses with spike mutations led to the culling in Denmark of all mink in the country. Several animals can be infected with SARS-CoV-2. However, anthropo-zoonotic outbreaks have only been reported in mink farms. The rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 in mink farms raises questions regarding their potential role at the onset of the pandemic and the impact of mutants on viral fitness, contagiousness, pathogenicity, re-infections with different mutants, immunotherapy, and vaccine efficacy.

Emergence and outcomes of the SARS-CoV-2 ‘Marseille-4’ variant

“…Secondly, there was no SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in France at the time of the emergence of this variant, except in a region near the city of Laval (Mayenne, Western France) located between the most dense area for wild mink (Brittany) and a mink farm (Eure-et-Loire) where 30% of mink were proved to be SARS-CoV-2-positive by qPCR and 97% had antibodies against the virus. As a consequence, the entire mink population of the farm was slaughtered (https://www.plateforme-esa.fr/article/covid-19-etanimaux-mise-a-jour-au-05-01-2021) (Fenollar et al, 2021). Progressively, this SARS-CoV-2 epidemic spread in France during the summer, and we observed the first cases of Marseille-4 infections in Marseille when French tourists arrived in our region.…”

Angiotensin II Receptor Blockers (ARBs Antihypertensive Agents) Increase Replication of SARS-CoV-2 in Vero E6 Cells

“…The proteins were visualized using an ECL Western Blotting Substrate (Promega, USA), and images were digitized using a Fusion FX (Vilber Lourmat, France). As for the spike expression, the JessTM Simple Western system of automated Western immunoblotting was used, as previously described (Edouard et al, 2020).…”

Zoonotic and Reverse Zoonotic Transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2

“…indicating the possibility of sustained transmission of this variant among humans ( Welkers et al, 2021 ). Interestingly, emerging infectious diseases previously reported in minks, such as swine pseudorabies, Newcastle disease, avian influenza, and orthoreovirus infection, all have high zoonotic potential ( Fenollar et al, 2021 ; Jiang et al, 2017 ; Lian et al, 2013 ; Wang et al, 2018 ; Zhao et al, 2017 ).…”

“…Farmed minks are highly susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection and, in some cases, they have transmitted the virus back to humans. SARS‐CoV‐2‐positive minks were detected in 290 fur farms in Denmark, 69 mink fur farms in the Netherlands, 13 of 40 mink farms in Sweden, 23 out of 91 mink farms in Greece, 17 fur farms in the USA, 4 farms in Lithuania, 2 farms in Canada, and one fur farm in Italy, Latvia, Poland, France, and Spain ( Domańska-Blicharz et al, 2021 ; Fenollar et al, 2021 ; OIE, 2021a ; Rabalski et al, 2020 ). The infected minks demonstrated mild respiratory distress and interstitial pneumonia on the necropsy ( Oreshkova et al, 2020 ).…”

“…The source of the outbreak in minks was linked to the farmers and their family members, who manifested with COVID‐19 infections and/or were PCR-positive for SARS‐CoV‐2. Virus transmission from infected minks to humans was proven by the phylogenetic comparison of human‐ and mink‐derived SARS‐CoV‐2 sequences, which were very similar ( European Food Safety et al, 2021 ; Fenollar et al, 2021 ; Oude Munnink et al, 2021 ). Additionally, seven of 24 cats at the mink farms also tested positive serologically for SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies, indicating the existence of animal-to-human (zoonotic) and animal-to-animal transmission ( Enserink, 2020 ).…”