In the upcoming months NCOH will be hosting a series of scientific lectures on COVID-19, with a special focus on the One Health approach to current challenges. The first webinar “COVID-19 in minks” took place on 6 July, World Zoonoses Day. If you missed it, below you can find access to the full webinar recording and the presentation slides. The next NCOH-webinar will be on 3 September, registration is open. You can register here.
On 26th of April a Dutch mink farm tested positive on COVID-19. By 13th July 2020, 23 mink farms were found to be positive. The outbreaks in mink farms are a zoonotic spillover event from human to animals. This provided scientists with a unique opportunity to study how the virus jumps between species and spreads through the mink populations. The infected mink farms could potentially become a viral reservoir and may cause new outbreaks in humans. Hence, it was decided to cull all mink on infected farms. Overall conclusions about the SARS-CoV-2 infection in mink farms:
- Covid-19 severity in mink farms varies from mild to severe
- Introduction was most likely through humans, although this is unknown for some farms
- Virus sequences show clusters of relationships between several infected farms
- Mink-to-mink and mink-to-cat transmission detected within farms
- Proof was found for occupational exposure to SARS-Cov-2 RNA (viability unknown)
- At least two farm workers were infected by mink
- Risk of environmental exposure outside infected farms are thought to be negligible
Watch the webinar “COVID-19 in minks”
Watch the whole webinar here and click on the links below to go to the individual PDF presentations.
15:00 | Opening by Prof. Dick Heederik, chair NCOH Executive Board |
Outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2 infections on mink farms: introduction and on farm observations Prof. Arjan Stegeman, Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University – download presentation (PDF) |
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SARS-CoV-2 infections in farmed mink: pathological and virological findings Prof. Wim van der Poel, Wageningen University & Research – download presentation (PDF) |
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Development of the virus and spillover from human to animal and vice versa Dr. Bas Oude Munnink PhD, Viroscience Department, Erasmus MC – download presentation (PDF) |
The webinar was well attended. A total of 155 participants logged into the webinar.
The next NCOH webinar will be on 3rd of September. You can register now!
The next webinar will be about aerosols, the complexity in research. Lidwien Smit of Utrecht University and Sander Herfst of Erasmus MC will be presenting their work on this subject.
Time & date: 3 September, 15:00 – 16:00 h.