Vinayak Barot
NEW DELHI, Oct 10: A study carried out by researchers at the University of California says that thousands of Minks are killed by Covid-19 in the United States. In Utah and Wisconsin Province thousands of mink have died at fur farms after a coronavirus outbreak.
Ranchers in Utah province have lost around 8000 mink due to coronavirus infection and minks are known for their silky and luxurious pelts.
According to the State Veterinarian of Utah Province “The virus first appeared in the creatures in August, shortly after farmworkers fell ill in July. Media reports quoting initial research studies said the transmission happened from human to animal and not the other way round.
“Initial research shows the virus was transmitted from humans to animals, and so far has not seen any cases of the opposite,” the reports said.
Denmark also reported similar cases in which around one million animals were infected by the coronavirus.
Study which is published in a science report says that 26 animals regularly in contact with people may be susceptible to infection. The researchers investigated how the spike protein from Sars-CoV-2 could interact with the ACE2 protein it attaches to when it infects people.
Binding to the protein enables the virus to gain entry into host cells; while it is possible the virus might be able to infect animals via another pathway, it is unlikely based on current evidence that the virus could infect an animal if it cannot form a stable binding complex with ACE2.
Lead author of study, Professor Christine Orengo said, “The animals we identified may be at risk of outbreaks that could threaten endangered species or harm the livelihoods of farmers. The animals might also act as reservoirs of the virus, with the potential to re-infect humans later on, as has been documented on mink farms,”
Many countries are taking strong steps to stop the spread of coronavirus in animals and In May Spain ordered the culling of all 93,000 mink at a farm to prevent human contagion after finding that most of the mink there were infected with the coronavirus.
The UCLA study found that most birds, fish, and reptiles do not appear to be at risk of infection, but the majority of the mammals they reviewed could potentially be infected.
