Netherlands - Coronavirus diagnosed at mink farms - Total to 50 farms - More than a million animals culled

[Gert van der Hoek]

Two mink breeders in North Brabant have diagnosed the coronavirus in several animals, reports Minister Schouten of Agriculture. The animals had gastrointestinal complaints and breathing problems.

The ministry assumes human to animal contamination, because some employees of the companies in Beek en Donk and Milheeze had symptoms of the coronavirus.

According to the RIVM, the mink are the first animals in the Netherlands to have been diagnosed with a corona infection. As far as is known, it is the first time worldwide that covid-19 has been established on a larger scale in breeding animals.

The infections were confirmed on Friday by researchers from the laboratory of Wageningen Bioveterinary Research in Lelystad. It was already known that ferrets, which are related to mink, can get sick from the coronavirus.

The farm in Beek en Donk has 7,500 mink and Milheeze has 13,000 animals. To prevent spreading to other farms, the mink and manure have to stay at the farms.
Not cycling and walking
On the advice of RIVM, the public road around both farms is closed within a radius of 400 meters for cyclists and walkers. This is a precautionary measure, because according to RIVM, mink companies do not, as far as we know, pose a risk of spreading to humans.

[Treyfish]

Coronavirus identified on two mink farms in the Netherlands
BusinessCorona

April 26, 2020 - By Robin Pascoe
Covid-19 has been confirmed in mink at two fur farms in the Netherlands, the agriculture ministry confirmed on Sunday. The animals were tested after developing a variety of symptoms including breathing difficulties and because there was a higher than normal death rate, the ministry said in a statement.
Officials decided to test the animals after several workers at the two farms were also found to have coronavirus symptoms, although they had not been tested for the disease.
The farms, with over 20,000 mink between them, are in Beek en Donk and in Milheeze, both of which are in Noord-Brabant, the epicentre of the Dutch outbreak and the heart of the Dutch mink industry.

The public health institute RIVM has sealed off an area some 400 metres around each farm to walkers and cyclists as a precautionary measure, while saying there is no risk that the virus could be spread to humans. However, air and other samples are being take to check if the virus is spreading and to find out more about it has moved among the animals themselves. ‘There are currently no indications that pets or farm animals have a role in spreading Covid-19,’ the ministry said.

Farm minister Carola Schouten has introduced a reporting requirement for all mink farmers and vets, which means any suspicious illnesses must be reported to the authorities. According to the ministry statement ‘earlier research’ has shown that ferret-like animals such as mink are susceptible to coronavirus infections. There have been a few other reported cases of coronavirus in animals, including a tiger in New York and two cats in Hong Kong.

Read more at DutchNews.nl:

[Gert van der Hoek]

Coronavirus in three more mink farms

In another three minkfarms in North Brabant, the coronavirus has been diagnosed in several animals, report Minister De Jonge of Health and Minister Schouten of Agriculture.

The infestations came to light through mandatory screening, which is currently being conducted on all mink farms. A fourth company in Venray has a possible contamination. Further research is being conducted there.

Since the end of April, infected minks have been found at six mink farms with eight locations. These are farms in the municipalities of Gemert-Bakel, Laarbeek, Deurne, Sint Anthonis.

[bertrand789]

Une analyse g?nomique suppl?mentaire non publi?e sugg?re qu'une personne dans l'une des fermes aurait pu ?tre infect?e par le vison, explique Stegeman. Cette personne semble avoir ?t? infect?e apr?s avoir commenc? ? travailler avec les animaux, dit-il, donc leur infection est probablement venue du vison, plut?t que l'inverse. Le g?nome viral de la personne ?tait ?galement plus ?troitement li? ? ceux trouv?s dans le vison qu'aux s?quences d'autres personnes infect?es aux Pays-Bas, y compris celles vivant pr?s de la ferme.
...
Plusieurs scientifiques craignent ?galement que le SRAS-CoV-2 ne puisse faire des allers-retours entre les chats et les humains, car les animaux errent souvent entre les m?nages. Bien que les chats puissent infecter d'autres f?lins, jusqu'? pr?sent, aucun cas d'infection de chats n'a ?t? signal?.
...
Asisa Volz, virologiste v?t?rinaire ? l'Universit? de m?decine v?t?rinaire de Hanovre en Allemagne, pr?voit d'?tudier si les chats transmettent le virus dans une maison de retraite en Bavi?re o? les r?sidents s?par?s des personnes infect?es tombent toujours malades. Un chat qui s'y trouvait avait des traces d'ARN provenant du coronavirus, ce qui sugg?re qu'il aurait pu se d?barrasser du virus alors qu'il parcourait l'installation. Volz et Beer testeront les chats de l'?tablissement pour rechercher des anticorps contre le virus et ?tudieront la chronologie des ?v?nements pour voir si les f?lins ?taient une source d'infection.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d415...e1f33-45291078
comme il est aussi ?voqu? ceci:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolverine

il faut regarder la carte de r?partition
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolver...stribution.svg

Encore un dossier ou les am?ricains vont briller ?

[Gert van der Hoek]

Mink from infected farms will be culled

Mink from farms infected with corona are disposed of in the interest of public health. The Hague sources report this to RTL Nieuws. 6 farms are involved with a total of 8 locations in Gemert-Bakel, Laarbeek, Deurne and Sint-Antonis. It is still unclear what happens to a suspicious company in Venray.

The cabinet will publish a letter about the mink later today. The culling is expected to start soon after the decision has been officially announced.

Experts stated last week in a briefing in the House of Representatives that the infected farms may pose a risk to public health. The existence of reservoirs in mink farms can be a problem, especially when corona is in decline among the population.

[Gert van der Hoek]

Corona infections on four more farms

In another four mink farms in North Brabant and Limburg the corona virus was detected. Minister Schouten of Agriculture writes this to the House of Representatives, the animals on the farms will be culled and removed.

It concerns two farms in Landhorst in the municipality of Sint Anthonis, one in Volkel and one in Castenray in Limburg. Mink farms had previously been found to be infected in Sint Anthonis. In total, corona has now been confirmed at 13 farms.

Send cadavers weekly

Three of those four new outbreaks have come to light when investigating carcasses of minks. Breeders are obliged to send it weekly. The fourth has been identified after a report.

The exact source of the infections is unknown, Schouten writes. The NVWA conducts research on the farms, employees can be tested.

The culling of the infected farms started last weekend. The NVWA can handle two to three farms per day. The minks on the farms now found to be infected will be culled and destroyed this week.

[Gert van der Hoek]

Coronavirus rips through Dutch mink farms, triggering culls to prevent human infections


By Martin EnserinkJun. 9, 2020

LELYSTAD, THE NETHERLANDS—In a sad sideshow to the COVID-19 pandemic, authorities in the Netherlands began to gas tens of thousands of mink on 6 June, most of them pups born only weeks ago. SARS-CoV-2 has attacked farms that raise the animals for fur, and the Dutch government worries infected mink could become a viral reservoir that could cause new outbreaks in humans.

The mink outbreaks are “spillover” from the human pandemic—a zoonosis in reverse that has offered scientists in the Netherlands a unique chance to study how the virus jumps between species and burns through large animal populations.

But they’re also a public health problem. Genetic and epidemiological sleuthing has shown that at least two farm workers have caught the virus from mink—the only patients anywhere known to have become infected by animals. SARS-CoV-2 can infect other animals, including cats, dogs, tigers, hamsters, ferrets, and macaques, but there are no known cases of transmission from these species back into the human population. (The virus originally spread to humans from an as-yet-unidentified animal species.)

READ MORE

[Gert van der Hoek]

SARS-CoV-2 infection in farmed minks, the Netherlands, April and May 2020

Eurosurveillance

1. Volume 25, Issue 23, 11/Jun/2020

Respiratory disease and increased mortality occurred in minks on two farms in the Netherlands, with interstitial pneumonia and SARS-CoV-2 RNA in organ and swab samples. On both farms, at least one worker had coronavirus disease-associated symptoms before the outbreak. Variations in mink-derived viral genomes showed between-mink transmission and no infection link between the farms. Inhalable dust contained viral RNA, indicating possible exposure of workers. One worker is assumed to have attracted the virus from mink.

In this report, we showed that humans can become a source of infection for minks, which results in a disease outbreak. Human infections acquired from mink are also suspected and data on exposure risk for humans as well as samples of potentially Covid-19-infected people on the farms are being collected and analysed; forthcoming results will be published in the future.

[Gert van der Hoek]

Two more mink farms infected

Coronavirus infections were diagnosed at two more mink farms. Minister De Jonge of Health writes to the House of Representatives. The infections were discovered last weekend. It concerns farms in the Brabant municipalities of Gemert-Bakel and Sint Anthonis.

Since the first corona cases at mink farms, breeders have been obliged to send dead animals. Research on those cadavers has revealed the new infections. In total, there are now fifteen farms where the virus has been detected.

[Gert van der Hoek]

Two more mink farms with corona virus

23 JUN 2020


Corona was diagnosed among animals at two new mink farms last weekend. This is confirmed by laboratory research by Wageningen Bioveterinary Research.
The contamination was brought to light by the legal obligation to have carcasses of mink examined for the virus SARS-CoV-2 that causes corona. The Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority started culling the mink yesterday. The farms are located in the Brabant municipality of Gemert-Bakel.

In total, mink of 17 farms have now been culled because of the presence of the corona virus. They are culled because it was previously shown that mink that are sick can also infect people. The government wants to use the cullings to prevent mink farms from becoming a source of contamination and thus a danger to public health. There is currently a transport and visiting ban for mink farms. There are also extra rules for hygiene.

[Gert van der Hoek]

Corona virus again at mink farm

Once again, the coronavirus was diagnosed at a mink farm. At the farm in the Brabant town of Landhorst, all minks are culled as quickly as possibIe (4,300 animals).

It is the eighteenth farm where the virus has been detected. All animals of the seventeen others have already been culled. Ministers De Jonge (Public Health) and Schouten (Agriculture) have decided to cull the population, because the virus can continue to circulate on fur farms for a long time and can pose a risk to the health of both people and animals. People have been infected on a few mink farms.

Transport and visitor ban
There has been a national ban on mink transport for some time. Visitors are also prohibited in stables and a strict hygiene protocol. The cabinet is still working on a 'stopper scheme' with which mink breeders can voluntarily terminate their business.

The House of Representatives would prefer to get rid of the mink farms completely before the end of the year, but the Cabinet is still investigating this. In any case, it is certain that mink breeding will be prohibited from 2024.

[Gert van der Hoek]

New contamination and suspicion of COVID-19 in mink farms

News item | 04-07-2020 | 20:33

In Gemert, a mink farm has been infected with SARS-CoV-2. It concerns a company of 7000 animals. There is also a suspicion of infection at a mink farm nearby, the final result is expected within a few days. The contamination and suspicion have come to light from the early warning, the monitoring system where animals are tested weekly for the virus. The infected company is removed as soon as possible.

A total of 19 mink farms in the Netherlands have now been declared infected and there is one suspicion. All animals were culled at the 18 farms where SARS-CoV-2 has previously been confirmed.

[Gert van der Hoek]

Mink farm infected again, 20th farm

Once again, the coronavirus has been diagnosed in a mink farm. It is a farm in Gemert (Noord-Brabant) with 12,000 dams. The company is being culled today, the ministries of Agriculture and Health report.

On Saturday, another coronavirus was diagnosed with another 7000 animals in Gemert. A total of 20 mink farms in the Netherlands are known to be infected. All animals have already been culled at 18 farms, the other two will follow today.

Stoppers scheme
There has been a national ban on mink transport for some time. A visitor's ban in the stables also applies. In addition, the cabinet is working on a 'stopper scheme' with which mink breeders can voluntarily terminate their business. From 2024, all mink farms will be banned.

In 2019, there were 128 farms with fur animals in the Netherlands last year. In practice, these are mainly mink farms. Most breeding farms are located in North Brabant. The Brabant municipality of Gemert-Bakel has become the "mink capital" of the Netherlands by the Central Bureau of Statistics, where eleven farms keep more than 200,000 dams.

[Gert van der Hoek]

Infections detected at two mink farms

Corona infections have again been confirmed in mink farms. Coronavirus was detected in Ospel near Weert in a farm with 6400 dams and one in Vredepeel near Venray with 12,500 dams. The mink will be culled as soon as possible, reports the Ministry of Health.

In total, infections were detected at 22 mink farms.

[Gert van der Hoek]

july 13, 2020

Coronavirus detected at mink farm in Aarle-Rixtel

THE HAGUE - Coronavirus has been diagnosed in animals at a mink farm in Aarle-Rixtel in Brabant, near Helmond. All 2000 dams are to be culled as soon as possible.

The corona virus has now appeared on 23 mink farms in the Netherlands. All animals on the previous 22 farms have been killed, the Ministry of Health said.