CDC confirms 4 Americans got Coronavirus from Mink; here is all you need to know about the first animal-to-human transmission of COVID virus - Times of India

More than two years into the pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has finally confirmed a first of its kind case of animal-to-human transmission of the COVID virus. The US health agency recently revealed that a variant of COVID witnessed majorly in mink in 2020 had infected at least four Americans. Two of the infected people are employees of a Michigan mink farm that witnessed a coronavirus outbreak in October 2020. The remaining two belong to the same area but had no link with the farm. The recent revelation suggests that the mink variant may have been circulating more widely in the area at the time.

Casey Barton Behravesh, who directs the CDC's One Health Office, told a leading news portal that the sample collected during that time from all four people contained two mutations. Scientists believe they may be signs of adaptation to mink. Behravesh, however, added that there are a few genetic sequences available from the communities around the farm, so it is difficult to know if the mutations came from mink on the farm or were already circulating in the community. The same mutant version of the virus has been reported from mink farms in Europe and people connected with that farm. Similar cases of mink-to-human transmission have also been reported in Denmark, the Netherlands and elsewhere.

In general, the transmission of the virus from animals to humans is considered to be rare. Mostly humans transfer the virus to one another or to other species. The cases of animals being infected with the virus through humans have been reported from several parts of the world. Most of these animals were infected with the virus after coming into close contact with people who tested positive for COVID-19. It is still now known if all the animals can get infected with the virus after coming in contact with humans.

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COVID-19 causing coronavirus belongs to a large family of viruses called coronavirus. As per the information available on the website of the CDC, some coronaviruses cause cold-like illnesses in people, while others cause illness in certain types of animals.

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV) also belong to this family. All of these viruses are zoonotic, which means they can be transmitted between animals and people. SARS-CoV was transferred from civet cats to humans and MERS-CoV from dromedary camels. In the case of COVID-19, this is the first evidence of animal to human transmission in the US. Till now only speculations were made, no concrete conclusions were drawn from them. A lot more research is needed in this area to understand the complexity of the situation.

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The revelation raises several questions about the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 across the globe. The animal-to-human transmission could be the reason behind the explosive outbreak of COVID-19 cases in the past two years. Ever since the beginning of the pandemic, emphasis was laid on preventing human-to-human transmission as the possibility of animal-human transmission was not known. It also raises the question about the evolution of the original strain over the period and upcoming challenges. Still a lot more research is needed in this area before reaching any conclusion.