France comes to his turn for the first time to detect the presence of Covid-19 in a farmed mink, in the Eure-et-Loir, have announced Sunday, November 22 the departments of Agriculture, Health and the ecological Transition.
"The slaughter of all of the 1,000 animals still present on the farm and the disposal of products from these animals" have been ordained, indicate in their press release. On the four farms of mink in the country, one is free and " analyses are still in progress in the last two ", the results of which are expected within the week.
In France, of the surveillance measures and strengthened security measures (masks, hand washing, etc) have been put in place in these facilities in may, after an alert was launched in April by the Dutch, the government said on Sunday. Analyses were then performed in mid-November in the framework of a programme led by the national Agency of health security (Anses), which have put the finger on the case eurélien.
mink can infect humans
The results of the tests carried out on the breeders of the four sites were found to be negative, it is. Enhanced surveillance has been put in place for the farmer concerned, and his family, now " case contacts ". Mink can contract the disease, but also re-infect the human being.
It is the only species known to date to the origin of contamination, cross-species, in this case to the man and the cat, reminiscent of the Handles, which in a recent opinion noted that the fact that today the animals played no role in the spread of the Covid-19. The government emphasizes as well on Sunday the importance of actions barriers in the context of a breeding aim : to protect animals, but also the staff.
Several european countries have already reported contamination of breeding mink, mainly in Denmark, with the recent discovery of a virus variant, but also in the netherlands and in Sweden and Greece, and isolated cases have been detected in Italy and Spain.
Read also Covid : who wants the skin of minks Danish ?
A mutation probably extinct
With some 20 000 minks farmed in France, according to the ministry of Agriculture, France, however, is far from the problem in Denmark, the largest exporter in the world, with a herd of 15 to 17 million head. The case has taken an entirely different magnitude when Copenhagen was ordered beginning of November, the slaughter of all these animals. At issue : the fear of a mutation of the coronavirus, which, when transmitted to man, would render inoperative the vaccines under development.
on Saturday, hundreds of breeders danes have manifested in the tractor in Copenhagen, to protest against the government's decision to slaughter all the livestock to combat a mutation problem for the coronavirus. The Danish authorities have indicated on Thursday that this mutation was very likely extinct.
The French government has stressed on Sunday the importance of gestures barriers in this context, too : to protect the aim of a contamination from the staff of the farms, but also, as a precaution, avoid contacts between animals possibly infected and the staff.
