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Spread of bird flu in mink – A mink farm in Spain recorded an outbreak of H5N1 and this fact may indicate that the virus has adapted to mammals and may have become dangerous for humans. This started in October 2022, with several dead minks on a farm in Galicia, Spain. At first, veterinarians believed that what was causing this would be the coronavirus, as happened in France and Denmark in the year 2020. “DW”.

Spread of bird flu in mink

However, tests eventually revealed that the cause of the deaths was the highly pathogenic avian flu virus H5N1. As a result, more than 50,000 mink from the farm had to be killed. Farm workers were not infected, but this case worries scientists.

What’s wrong with the avian flu outbreak among mink?

As presented on the aforementioned website, the spread of the virus from birds to other animal species is not something new in itself. The avian flu pathogen (also called avian plague) has been found repeatedly in mammals such as raccoons, foxes and seals, but these were as isolated cases as the few times people were infected with the virus.

Timm Harder of the Friedrich Loeffler Institute (FLI), which does animal health research, reports that, so far, known cases have shown that both animals and humans were infected through the droppings of infected birds or their carcasses. Harder directs the German reference laboratory for avian influenza (as avian influenza is called in scientific circles).

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“In contrast to these individual infections, in the case of minks, the virus may have passed from animal to animal – and that is new.”, he said. What happens is that on mink farms, animals are kept confined in large numbers in a small space, which ends up favoring the infection process in these very susceptible mammals.

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The researchers detected that there are mutations in the pathogen that attacks the minks. Tim Harder says: “One of them makes the virus able to multiply better in mammals”. So this could be a first adaptation to minks and therefore to mammals. Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College London, wrote in the journal Science: “This is incredibly concerning”. The expert also says that this is “a clear mechanism of how an H5 pandemic can start”.


Post about the breeding of minks in Spain to register an outbreak of H5N1. (Reproduction/Twitter @dw_brasil)


Could avian flu become a new human pandemic?

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The “DW” shows that, so far, many cases of humans contracting the H5N1 virus through contact with birds have been mild. However, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), 457 of the 868 cases of H5N1 infection in humans known worldwide from January 2003 to November 2022 ended in the death of the individual.

However, the WHO considers that “From the available information, the risk posed by this virus to the general population is considered low. And, for people exposed due to occupation, as low to moderate”.

According to Timm Harder, some highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIV), such as avian influenza, have an increased potential to cause new zoonoses. For those who don’t know, zoonoses are infectious diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans and vice versa.

Harder notes that, however, “there still seem to be numerous obstacles to greater adaptation to humans”. He also points out that the virus that appeared in minks in Spain must now be examined more closely so that they can assess possible adaptations.

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How a harmless virus became dangerous

According to Wolfgang Fiedler, an ornithologist at the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behaviour, it has long been known that waterfowl are host animals for flu viruses. But these original influenza viruses were only mildly pathogenic, that is, they are less harmful and also less contagious. The animals didn’t get sick or just mildly sick. The expert says that it is likely that every wild duck has had avian flu at some point in life.

But if these viruses, considered harmless to wild birds, reach large poultry farms, Fiedler points out that they find thousands of similar individuals and spread quickly, and the virus can mutate with each transmission.

And, indeed, that is what happened as the result was the emergence of the very contagious H5N1 and H5N8 virus strains. These strains likely originated in poultry farms located in East Asia, according to the Scientific Working Group on Avian Influenza and Wild Birds, which was created by the United Nations (UN).

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Fiedler says that there, huge flocks of ducks are kept in the wild and taken to the rice fields to eat. These reared birds had contact with wild birds and became infected. Thus began the mutation. The expert says: “And if ducks are kept together with pigs, for example, that’s a way of rearing that makes a virus like this very happy”.

Do Wild Birds or the Poultry Industry Drive Avian Flu?

According to the UN Working Group on Avian Influenza, outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza “generally spread through trade in contaminated poultry, poultry products and items that come into contact with the animals”. In the meantime, birds that are wild have also come to play a role in spreading the disease.

Harder reports that this is because the newly emerging and very contagious virus of the H5N1 and H5N8 strains was transmitted to wild birds through infected farm birds. The aggressive pathogen is now being transmitted more and more effectively to several species of wild birds. Viruses could then be spread over great distances by migrating birds.

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Fiedler also confirms that such cases exist. But there are also other chains of infection that have nothing to do with bird migration. The ornithologist says that when a duck is very sick, it no longer flies long distances. But then there may be contagion nearby. He says: “For example, when someone steps in the droppings of an infected goose or duck and takes them to a poultry farm”.


Post about the breeding of minks in Spain to register an outbreak of H5N1. (Reproduction/Twitter @tvcultura)


What harm does avian flu cause?

According to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the ongoing avian flu epidemic is the largest seen in Europe to date. Between October 2021 and September 2022, 50 million farmed birds had to be slaughtered in 37 countries. More than 3,800 HPAI virus detections have been counted in wild birds. And the number of unreported cases is likely to be much higher.

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So far, avian flu has mostly happened in the European autumn and winter. Pointing out that animals hatch their eggs together in large colonies, ideal conditions for the virus to spread, Harder says: “Now the virus also circulates among wild birds in the summer months”. Species such as terns, cormorants and gannets were particularly affected. The expert says that the effects of this will only become apparent in the European spring and early summer.

According to Harder, for the first time the wave of avian flu also reached South America in the fall. Affected countries were: Peru, Venezuela, but also Ecuador and Colombia. More than 240 dead pelicans have been found in Honduras this week alone.

Harder is concerned that the virus could spread from South America to Antarctica, thus endangering penguin populations. Aside from Antarctica, Australia is the only region not yet affected by the avian flu pandemic.

Is there protection against avian flu?

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EFSA explained to the “DW”, which is being developed as a prototype of an early warning system with the aim of predicting the risk of HPAI viruses being introduced by wild birds. Thus, from it, a monitoring network for wild birds across the European Union could be created.

In addition to this fact, the availability of HPAI vaccines and possible vaccination strategies are being examined. The results should come out in the second half.

Despite the acute outbreak among birds, Harder sees hope that the wide spread of the virus could promote immunity in wild birds. A “DW” shows that antibodies have already been found in living animals.

Featured Photo: Granja de Visons in Spain faced an outbreak of avian flu. Playback/DW/Deutsche Welle.

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Spread of bird flu in mink
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