The spread of the covid-19 Up to more than 40 of the approximately 120 fur mink farms in the Netherlands has forced the government to cull more than one million animals since June 6, and to bring forward to next year the closure of the industry -expected for 2024- for fear that the farms would become a viral reservoir capable of generating new outbreaks among humans. For scientists, the presence of the coronavirus on farms concentrated in the south of the country has allowed them to analyze its jump between species, because although minks are susceptible to this type of virus, it has now been seen that they do not only get sick among themselves. Humans can also infect them, and it presents itself as plausible first transmission from mink to person. At least in two cases, announced on May 19 and 25, respectively. The draft of the scientific paper describing the different viral routes observed can be consulted on the bioRxiv server, which publishes reports that have not yet passed the academic scrutiny of other experts in the same field: peer review.
