Experimental infection of mink with SARS-COV-2 Omicron (BA.1) variant leads to symptomatic disease with lung pathology and transmission

Virtanen, J.; Aaltonen, K.; Kegler, K.; Venkat, V.; Niamsap, T.; Kareinen, L.; Malmgren, R.; Kivela, O.; Atanasova, N.; Osterlund, P.; Smura, T.; Sukura, A.; Strandin, T.; Dutra, L.; Vapalahti, O.; Nordgren, H.; Kant, R.; Sironen, T.

doi:10.1101/2022.02.16.480524

bioRxiv · 10.1101/2022.02.16.480524

Experimental infection of mink with SARS-COV-2 Omicron (BA.1) variant leads to symptomatic disease with lung pathology and transmission

Virtanen, J.·Aaltonen, K.·Kegler, K.·Venkat, V.·Niamsap, T.·Kareinen, L.·Malmgren, R.·Kivela, O.·Atanasova, N.·Osterlund, P.·Smura, T.·Sukura, A.·Strandin, T.·Dutra, L.·Vapalahti, O.·Nordgren, H.·Kant, R.·Sironen, T.

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Abstract

We report an experimental infection of American mink with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant and show that minks remain virus RNA positive for days, develop clinical signs and histopathological changes, and transmit the virus to uninfected recipients warranting further studies and preparedness.

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Virtanen, J., Aaltonen, K., Kegler, K., Venkat, V., Niamsap, T., Kareinen, L., Malmgren, R., Kivela, O., Atanasova, N., Osterlund, P., Smura, T., Sukura, A., Strandin, T., Dutra, L., Vapalahti, O., Nordgren, H., Kant, R., Sironen, T.. 2022-02-16. Experimental infection of mink with SARS-COV-2 Omicron (BA.1) variant leads to symptomatic disease with lung pathology and transmission. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.02.16.480524

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