Transmission of bird flu to mink: how Spain narrowly escaped disaster

Disaster was probably averted.

In October 2022, when minks began to die in a Spanish farm located in Galicia, veterinarians first thought of a Covid epidemic.

But tests carried out on small carnivores quickly unmasked another culprit: the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus, of the H5N1 family, currently responsible for a worldwide flu epidemic in poultry farms and among wild birds.

The virus is also occasionally detected in mammals (man, fox, bear, otter, seal, cat, etc.), but it does not manage to circulate among individuals of these species.

This time, the bird flu spread at high speed in the breeding of more than 50,000 mink, leading to a rapid increase in mortality.

The alert is immediately launched.

Examination of the corpses reveals haemorrhagic lesions in the lungs, digestive system and brain.

No employee is however contaminated, probably…

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