TY - JOUR AU - Manes, Costanza AU - Gollakner, Rania AU - Capua, Ilaria PY - 2020/12/03 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Could Mustelids spur COVID-19 into a panzootic? JF - Veterinaria Italiana JA - VetIt VL - 56 IS - 2 SE - Letter DO - 10.12834/VetIt.2375.13627.1 UR - https://www.veterinariaitaliana.izs.it/index.php/VetIt/article/view/2375 SP - AB - <p><span style="left: 307.087px; top: 392.061px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.945118);">The ongoing pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has spilled over into humans </span><span style="left: 307.087px; top: 417.095px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.954155);">from an animal reservoir. Notably, the virus is now spilling back into a variety </span><span style="left: 307.087px; top: 442.129px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.927499);">of animal species. It appears striking that American (</span><span style="left: 740.019px; top: 442.111px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.887252);">Neovison vison</span><span style="left: 854.856px; top: 442.129px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.888701);">) and </span><span style="left: 307.087px; top: 467.164px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.909365);">European (</span><span style="left: 394.234px; top: 467.145px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.895127);">Mustela vison</span><span style="left: 499.143px; top: 467.164px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.924533);">) minks are the first intensively farmed animal to </span><span style="left: 307.087px; top: 492.198px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.895237);">experience outbreaks. Neither of these have occurred in Asia or Africa but </span><span style="left: 307.087px; top: 517.232px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.86382);">rather in Europe – namely Spain, Denmark, Netherlands and in the US, at a </span><span style="left: 307.087px; top: 542.266px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.960169);">mink farm in Utah. Current evidence indicates that the virus was transmitted </span><span style="left: 307.087px; top: 567.3px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.96278);">to the animals through infected human workers on the farm.</span><span style="left: 307.087px; top: 601.782px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.90518);">At the time of writing, SARS-CoV-2 infection has not been documented in </span><span style="left: 307.087px; top: 626.816px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.965586);">any other intensively farmed species, suggesting that mustelids may exhibit </span><span style="left: 307.087px; top: 651.851px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.958565);">a higher susceptibility to the virus. Studies have shown that domestic ferrets </span><span style="left: 307.087px; top: 676.885px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.915262);">have an extremely low resistance to COVID-19 infection (Shi </span><span style="left: 804.307px; top: 676.866px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.858507);">et al.</span><span style="left: 842.824px; top: 676.885px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.863996);"> 2020). </span><span style="left: 307.087px; top: 701.919px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.939035);">Mustelids comprise approximately 60 different species (Kollas </span><span style="left: 782.383px; top: 701.9px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.881475);">et al.</span><span style="left: 817.43px; top: 701.919px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.904221);"> 2015) and </span><span style="left: 307.087px; top: 726.953px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.956556);">are widely distributed across a number of habitats, both aquatic (marine and </span><span style="left: 307.087px; top: 751.987px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.915648);">freshwater), and terrestrial (prairies, steppes, tundra, forests). Several wild </span><span style="left: 307.087px; top: 777.021px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.940066);">mustelids have become acclimated to urban areas – such as raccoons, otters </span><span style="left: 307.087px; top: 802.055px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.915424);">and badgers, and some are raised in households as pets – such as ferrets. The </span><span style="left: 307.087px; top: 827.089px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.954273);">latter are perhaps at greater risk of infection than their cousins inhabiting the </span><span style="left: 307.087px; top: 852.123px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.955551);">wild, but it is the former that we should be most worried about. If infection by </span><span style="left: 307.087px; top: 877.157px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.956426);">SARS-CoV-2 spills into wild mustelids, these have the potential to become a </span><span style="left: 307.087px; top: 902.191px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.929406);">permanent reservoir of infection for other animal species. Such a scenario has </span><span style="left: 307.087px; top: 927.225px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.950344);">been seen before with rabies in raccoons and skunks (Rupprecht </span><span style="left: 813.745px; top: 927.207px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.904065);">et al.</span><span style="left: 849.697px; top: 927.225px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.922767);"> 1995) </span><span style="left: 307.087px; top: 952.259px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.945343);">and with bovine tuberculosis in badgers (Gallagher and Clifton-Hadley 2000).</span><span style="left: 307.087px; top: 986.742px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.937947);">We believe that it is important to prioritize studies in mustelids on their </span><span style="left: 307.087px; top: 1011.78px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.948549);">putative role as reservoirs and amplifiers of SARS-CoV-2 infection in animals </span><span style="left: 307.087px; top: 1036.81px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.94798);">and subsequently humans. The development of appropriate surveillance and </span><span style="left: 307.087px; top: 1061.84px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.973338);">intervention strategies will determine if mustelids are one of the key links in </span><span style="left: 307.087px; top: 1086.88px; font-size: 18.3333px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.960233);">the chain to the initiation of an unprecedented epochal event: a panzootic.</span></p> ER -