Six countries have so far reported cases of Covid-19 in mink farms, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Saturday.
“
To date, six countries, namely Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Italy and the United States have reported cases of SARS-CoV-2 in mink farms from the World Organization for Animal Health
”, according to a press release from the UN agency.
The announcement comes after Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Wednesday announced the slaughter of all of the country's more than 15 million mink, claiming that a mutated version of SARS-Cov-2, which could threaten the effectiveness of 'a future vaccine, had been transmitted by these animals to twelve people.
Read also: Covid-19: in Denmark, minks have become the number one public enemy
The mutation of a virus is trivial and often harmless, according to the scientific community.
But in the case of this strain, called "
Cluster 5
", it implies, according to the first studies, a lower efficiency of human antibodies, which threatens the development of a vaccine against Covid-19.
"
The first observations suggest that the clinical presentation, the severity and the transmission of infected persons are similar to those of other SARS-CoV-2 viruses in circulation
", notes the WHO.
"
However, this variant, called the 'cluster 5' variant, presents a combination of mutations or changes that had not been observed before
", adds the UN specialized agency, stressing that "
the implications of the changes identified in this variant are not yet fully understood
”.
WHO is asking for new scientific and laboratory studies to be set up to verify these results and understand what the consequences could be on the development of treatments and vaccines.
