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Cluster 5 is a designation used by the Danish Statens Serum Institut for a virus variant described by the institute in autumn 2020, in connection with investigations of SARS-CoV-2 infection among mink and humans in the north of Jutland, Denmark. [1]
On 3 November 2020, the institute delivered a risk assessment, in which a preliminary experiment with this virus variant described on one and a half pages, [2] is the basis for an assessment concerning the efficacy of future COVID-19 vaccines. [3] With reference to this risk assessment, as announced at the Prime Minister's press conference on 4 November 2020, [4] a plan with the aim of killing all the country's mink was launched [5] (see The Mink Case) and a lockdown with tightened restrictions was introduced in seven North Jutland municipalities.
At the time the decision to kill all Danish mink was made, the virus variant had last been detected on 15 September 2020. [6] [7] After subsequent testing and sequencing of positive samples in the seven North Jutland municipalities, the date of the latest finding was still 15 September 2020. [8] The World Health Organization wrote on 6 November 2020 with reference to the preliminary experiment, that "Further scientific and laboratory-based studies are required to verify preliminary findings reported and to understand any potential implications of this finding in terms of diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines in development." [9]
The Danish Medicines Agency was asked for its assessment of the virus variant, the day after the government had decided to kill all the country's mink. [10] The agency concludes in its assessment that the mutations that characterize the virus variant are not likely to have substantial impact on the efficacy of first-generation vaccines. [11]
In 2019, Denmark was the largest producer of mink fur in the world, [12] with the vast majority of the Danish farms located in northern and western Jutland. [13] In recent years the industry had generally been in decline in the country. [14] Along with bats, pangolins, and humans, minks are one of the many mammal species that can be infected with coronaviruses. [15]
Although the role of pangolins in the spread of COVID-19 was gradually being dismissed by scientists, [16] [17] several articles claimed that Chinese mink farms may have played a role in the emergence of COVID-19. [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] In partnership with science journalist Yves Sciama, they conducted an investigation for Reporterre between November and December 2020. [23] [24] [25] The day after, transmission of the virus from minks to humans, and mutations related to mink, were documented in the journal Science , [26] which prompted the Dutch government to bring forward to the end of 2020 a ban on mink farming previously scheduled to go into effect in 2024. [27] After the discovery in the Netherlands, the authorities in Denmark initiated a large-scale surveillance program of all mink farms in the country, with regular testing and genomic sequencing. [28] The sequences of the Danish and Dutch mink-related viruses were deposited with the GISAID database. [29] The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirmed that cases of minks ill with COVID-19 had been documented in Utah in August 2020. [30] Additional outbreaks have been detected in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Oregon. [31] As of 29 November 2020, COVID-19 infections in mink have been reported in Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the United States. [32] [33]
In Denmark, there have been five clusters of mink variants of SARS-CoV-2; the Danish State Serum Institute (SSI) has designated these as clusters 1–5 (Danish: cluster 1–5). In cluster 5, also referred to as ΔFVI‑spike by the SSI, [34] several different mutations in the spike protein of the virus have been confirmed. The specific mutations include 69–70deltaHV (a deletion of the histidine and valine residues at the 69th and 70th position in the protein), Y453F (a change from tyrosine to phenylalanine at position 453, inside the spike protein's receptor-binding domain), I692V (isoleucine to valine at position 692), M1229I (methionine to isoleucine at position 1229), and a non-conservative substitution S1147L. [35] [34] [1]
Mink-related mutations that partially resemble the mutations discovered in Denmark, although part of a separate genomic group, are known from the Netherlands. [26] [36]
On 5 November, BBC News reported that 12 cases of human infection with the cluster 5 variant had been detected. [37] A week later, an ECDC rapid risk assessment report indicated that 214 mink-related human cases had occurred, [36] however, few of these, if any, are believed to have been additional cases related to the Cluster 5 outbreak. [38] By 20 November, no further human cases of the Cluster 5 strain were being detected despite widespread genetic sequencing which revealed 750 cases related to mink, and it was assessed that the Cluster 5 variant was no longer circulating in humans. [39]
By 2 November 2020, the Danish state-owned independent research institute Statens Serum Institut (SSI) detected mutated variants of SARS-CoV-2 that could infect humans and could have dangerous effects in mink farms; human infections were associated with 191 positive mink farms. They publicly reported this on 3 November, calling variants with a known association to three farms "Cluster 5". [3] On 4 November 2020, Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen stated that a mutated coronavirus was being transmitted to humans via minks, tied primarily to mink farms in North Jutland. A report by the SSI found that there had been 12 human infections (8 directly associated with mink farms, 4 in the nearby community) involving this mutation in Northern Jutland (being referred to as "cluster 5"), and its Antibody response was weaker. While the institute stated that the mutation appeared to be no more dangerous than other coronaviruses by itself, Kåre Mølbak and Tyra Grove Krause of the SSI warned that the mutation potentially could reduce the effect of COVID-19 vaccines currently under development, although it was unlikely to render them useless. [1] [40] [41] Furthermore, the weaker antibody response was shown to reduce immunity acquired by a prior infection. [3] SSI noted that while cluster 5 was of some concern, they were also worried about potential future mutations that could appear in mink, leading to their recommendation of closing down all the farms in the country. [42]
As a preventative measure, Frederiksen announced that the country was already in the process of culling its mink population of about 14 million (initial reports of 15–17 million were based on estimates from earlier years when the industry was larger). [43] [44] To prevent spread of the mutation, it was also announced on 5 November that a lockdown and movement restrictions would be implemented in the North Jutland municipalities of Brønderslev, Frederikshavn, Hjørring, Jammerbugt, Læsø, Thisted, and Vesthimmerland effective 6 November, [1] [45] All cultural institutions, cinemas, theatres, sports and leisure facilities, and dine-in restaurants were ordered closed, and travel into or out of the municipalities was prohibited. Public transport was suspended 9 November. [46] [47] Mass-testing was initiated (Denmark already had one of the world's highest test rates) and trace programs were further upscaled. The restrictions in Northern Jutland were initially planned to last until 3 December, but they could be reversed earlier depending on the speed of the mink culling and mass-testing of people, and if no new cases of cluster 5 were located. [48]
The WHO released a statement on the SARS-CoV-2 variants on 6 November. [9] It explained that this cluster had a combination of mutations that had not been previously observed. The variant had moderately decreased sensitivity to neutralizing antibodies, but further studies would be required to understand implications regarding diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines. [9] This was later echoed in a risk assessment published by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), which notes that the risk for the mink-related variants is similar to the general COVID-19 risk, but could be reassessed if the concerns raised regarding immunity, reinfection, vaccination, and treatment are confirmed when it comes to cluster 5 in particular, also noting that virus circulation in mink farms could pose other issues in the future, and providing guidelines for managing the risk. [36] [49] In late November, more than 10 million had been culled. [50]
On 6 November, the United Kingdom announced that Denmark would be removed from the "corridor" whitelist of countries from which travellers may return without self-isolating for 14 days, citing the cluster-5 variant. [51] On 7 November, the United Kingdom announced that it would also prohibit entry by non-residents travelling from Denmark, and non-residents who had been to Denmark within the past 14 days. British citizens were still allowed to return home, but they, as well as all other members of their household, were required to self-isolate for 14 days. This travel ban was to be reviewed after a week. [52] [53] The restrictions were eventually lifted on 28 November. [54]
Following mass-testing, SSI announced on 19 November 2020 that they had found no new cases of cluster 5 and it was in all probability extinct. The special restrictions placed on some North Jutland municipalities were lifted on 19–20 November (they are still subjected to the standard COVID-19 restrictions that cover the entire country and are unrelated to the mink mutations). [8]
It was revealed in late November that the Minister for Agriculture, Mogens Jensen, and five other ministers had been made aware in September that the culling of the entire country's mink population, rather than just those in the infected areas, would be illegal. Facing calls for resignation from the parliamentary opposition and sharp public criticism, [55] Prime Minister Frederiksen acknowledged that the order to cull all minks was illegal, and Jensen resigned on 18 November. [56] A deal was later reached to retroactively make the government's order legal. [57] On 21 December 2020, in the Parliament of Denmark, the government and parliament's left wing parties passed a bill outlawing all mink production throughout 2021. [58] The bill does not contain provisions to remove legal responsibility for the previous culling but does retroactively legalize a bonus payout for swifter cullings. [58] The opposition parties (V, C, O, NB, LA) opposed. [59] On 25 January 2021, [60] a majority in the Danish parliament reached an agreement to compensate Danish mink farmers and others making a living off of mink farming for between 15.6 billion and 18.8 DKK [61] (c. 2.1 billion EUR – c. 2.5 billion EUR).
Mink are dark-colored, semiaquatic, carnivorous mammals of the genera Neogale and Mustela and part of the family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, otters, and ferrets. There are two extant species referred to as "mink": the American mink and the European mink. The extinct sea mink was related to the American mink but was much larger.
Fur farming is the practice of breeding or raising certain types of animals for their fur.
The mink industry in Denmark produced 40 percent of the world's pelts. Denmark used to be the largest producer of mink skins in the world. Ranked third in Denmark's agricultural export items of animal origin, fur and mink skins have a yearly export value of about €500 million. Kopenhagen Fur, located in Copenhagen, is the world's largest fur auction house; annually, it sells approximately 14 million Danish mink skins produced by 2,000 Danish fur farmers, and 7 million mink skins produced in other countries. Mink produced in Denmark was considered to be the finest in the world and is ranked by grade, with the best being Saga Royal, followed by Saga, Quality 1, and Quality 2.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the respiratory illness responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had the provisional name 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), and has also been called human coronavirus 2019. First identified in the city of Wuhan, Hubei, China, the World Health Organization designated the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern from January 30, 2020, to May 5, 2023. SARS‑CoV‑2 is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus that is contagious in humans.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly spread worldwide, resulting in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Denmark was a part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The virus was first confirmed to have spread to Denmark on 27 February 2020.
COVID-20, COVID-21 or COVID-22 may refer to:
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected animals directly and indirectly. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is zoonotic, which likely to have originated from animals such as bats and pangolins. Human impact on wildlife and animal habitats may be causing such spillover events to become much more likely. The largest incident to date was the culling of 14 to 17 million mink in Denmark after it was discovered that they were infected with a mutant strain of the virus.
Both the American mink and the European mink have shown high susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 since the earliest stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, first in mink farms across Europe, followed by mink farms in the United States. Mortality has been extremely high among mink, with 35–55% of infected adult animals dying from COVID-19 in a study of farmed mink in the U.S. state of Utah.
The Alpha variant (B.1.1.7) was a SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern. It was estimated to be 40–80% more transmissible than the wild-type SARS-CoV-2. Scientists more widely took note of this variant in early December 2020, when a phylogenetic tree showing viral sequences from Kent, United Kingdom looked unusual.
The Beta variant, (B.1.351), was a variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. One of several SARS-CoV-2 variants initially believed to be of particular importance, it was first detected in the Nelson Mandela Bay metropolitan area of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa in October 2020, which was reported by the country's health department on 18 December 2020. Phylogeographic analysis suggests this variant emerged in the Nelson Mandela Bay area in July or August 2020.
Variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are viruses that, while similar to the original, have genetic changes that are of enough significance to lead virologists to label them separately. SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Some have been stated, to be of particular importance due to their potential for increased transmissibility, increased virulence, or reduced effectiveness of vaccines against them. These variants contribute to the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Gamma variant (P.1) was one of the variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. This variant of SARS-CoV-2 has been named lineage P.1 and has 17 amino acid substitutions, ten of which in its spike protein, including these three designated to be of particular concern: N501Y, E484K and K417T. It was first detected by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) of Japan, on 6 January 2021 in four people who had arrived in Tokyo having visited Amazonas, Brazil, four days earlier. It was subsequently declared to be in circulation in Brazil. Under the simplified naming scheme proposed by the World Health Organization, P.1 was labeled Gamma variant, and was considered a variant of concern until March 2022, when it was largely displaced by the delta and omicron variants.
Iota variant, also known as lineage B.1.526, is one of the variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. It was first detected in New York City in November 2020. The variant has appeared with two notable mutations: the E484K spike mutation, which may help the virus evade antibodies, and the S477N mutation, which helps the virus bind more tightly to human cells.
The Delta variant (B.1.617.2) was a variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. It was first detected in India on 5 October 2020. The Delta variant was named on 31 May 2021 and had spread to over 179 countries by 22 November 2021. The World Health Organization (WHO) indicated in June 2021 that the Delta variant was becoming the dominant strain globally.
Kappa variant is a variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. It is one of the three sublineages of Pango lineage B.1.617. The SARS-CoV-2 Kappa variant is also known as lineage B.1.617.1 and was first detected in India in December 2020. By the end of March 2021, the Kappa sub-variant accounted for more than half of the sequences being submitted from India. On 1 April 2021, it was designated a Variant Under Investigation (VUI-21APR-01) by Public Health England.
The Eta variant is a variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The Eta variant or lineage B.1.525, also called VUI-21FEB-03 by Public Health England (PHE) and formerly known as UK1188, 21D or 20A/S:484K, does not carry the same N501Y mutation found in Alpha, Beta and Gamma, but carries the same E484K-mutation as found in the Gamma, Zeta, and Beta variants, and also carries the same ΔH69/ΔV70 deletion as found in Alpha, N439K variant and Y453F variant.
Spike (S) glycoprotein is the largest of the four major structural proteins found in coronaviruses. The spike protein assembles into trimers that form large structures, called spikes or peplomers, that project from the surface of the virion. The distinctive appearance of these spikes when visualized using negative stain transmission electron microscopy, "recalling the solar corona", gives the virus family its main name.
Blood samples gathered by USDA researchers in 2021 showed that 40% of sampled white-tailed deer demonstrated evidence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, with the highest percentages in Michigan, at 67%, and Pennsylvania, at 44%. A later study by Penn State University and wildlife officials in Iowa showed that up to 80% of Iowa deer sampled from April 2020 through January 2021 had tested positive for active SARS-CoV-2 infection, rather than solely antibodies from prior infection. This data, confirmed by the National Veterinary Services Laboratory, alerted scientists to the possibility that white-tailed deer had become a natural reservoir for the coronavirus, serving as a potential "variant factory" for eventual retransmission back into humans.
The 2020 Danish mink cull, commonly known as the Mink Case or the Mink Scandal, was the government-mandated slaughter of all roughly 17 million mink that were being raised on farms for their fur in Denmark. The cull started in September in response to the detection of Cluster 5, an outbreak of a novel variant of SARS-CoV-2, in the mink during the COVID-19 pandemic in Denmark. The cluster led to concerns that the potential of spillover to humans could reduce the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines. The cull was made nation-wide on 4 November 2020; however, two days later the government announced that the extension of the cull orders had been given without legal authority, causing a political scandal.
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden are the other nations to have discovered SARS-CoV-2 in minks, WHO said in a statement.
Six countries have reported cases of SARS-CoV-2 in farmed minks, including Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Italy and the US, according to the WHO.
[...] (hereafter referred to as ΔFVI-spike). [...] These include: i) 69-70deltaHV – a deletion of a histidine and valine at amino acid positions 69 and 70 in the N-terminal domain of the S1 subunit; ii) I692V – a conservative substitution at position 692 that is located seven amino acids downstream of the furin cleavage site; iii) S1147L – a non-conservative substitution at position 1147 in the S2 subunit; and iv) M1229I – a conservative substitution located within the transmembrane domain