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. 2021 Sep;27(9):2333-2339.
doi: 10.3201/eid2709.210286.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 in Farmed Mink (Neovison vison), Poland

Lukasz Rabalski, Maciej Kosinski, Teemu Smura, Kirsi Aaltonen, Ravi Kant, Tarja Sironen, Bogusław Szewczyk, Maciej Grzybek

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 in Farmed Mink (Neovison vison), Poland

Lukasz Rabalski et al. Emerg Infect Dis. 2021 Sep.

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the etiologic agent of coronavirus disease and has been spreading worldwide since December 2019. The virus can infect different animal species under experimental conditions, and mink on fur farms in Europe and other areas are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection. We investigated SARS-CoV-2 infection in 91 mink from a farm in northern Poland. Using reverse transcription PCR, antigen detection, and next-generation sequencing, we confirmed that 15 animals were positive for SARS-CoV-2. We verified this finding by sequencing full viral genomes and confirmed a virus variant that has sporadic mutations through the full genome sequence in the spike protein (G75V and C1247F). We were unable to find other SARS-CoV-2 sequences simultaneously containing these 2 mutations. Country-scale monitoring by veterinary inspection should be implemented to detect SARS-CoV-2 in other mink farms.

Keywords: COVID-19; Neovison vison; Poland; SARS-CoV-2; coronavirus disease; coronaviruses; detection; mink; molecular characterization; respiratory infections; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; spillover; transmission; viruses; zoonoses.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Timeline of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections in mink farms, Europe, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health (10). We investigated SARS-CoV-2 in mink sampled on November 24, 2020, in Pomorskie Voivodeship, northern Poland. The Polish National Veterinary Research Institute, as a national unit responsible for reporting to the World Organisation for Animal Health, detected SARS-CoV-2 infection in the same mink farm on January 30, 2021.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Phylogenetic tree estimating the divergence time for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, Europe. Sequences from mink sampled on November 24, 2020, in Pomorskie Voivodeship, northern Poland, are shown on green branches. Only closely related isolates that were included in the dataset are presented. Visualization was achieved by using Nextstrain (https://nextstrain.org/ncov/europe).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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