Utah mink farm bird flu outbreak raises fears of a pandemic deadlier than Covid as the virus killed 80% of a mink herd: Can it spread to humans?

Utah mink farm bird flu: On Utah mink farm, bird flu has been spreading for more than two months but the federal government and state officials have not culled the animals. According to a report in ProPublica, minks were neither vaccinated nor the farms were put under formal quarantine. The bird flu has killed two people in the last four years but it does not spread to humans. However, experts fear that if the bird flu becomes capable of spreading efficiently between humans, it could trigger a pandemic deadlier than the Covid. In one case, the owner of the farm expected to lose 80% of their mink to the outbreak without intervention.

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How can bird flu spread to humans?

For this to happen, bird flu would likely need to pass through another animal that can catch both bird and human viruses. If these animals live close together in crowded conditions, the virus could spread among them and develop new mutations. For the virus to then spread to humans, it would need opportunities to infect people and spread between them without being detected for some time.


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When was Utah mink farm bird flu detected?

According to ProPublica, Utah agriculture officials learned of the deaths in mid-August and that the US Department of Agriculture’s dashboard showed seven captive mink had tested positive. Sick mink carry the same strain that has spread through dairy herds, and officials told ProPublica they did not know whether contaminated beef caused the infections. The lack of transparency from government officials about the infections was very troubling, said Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiology professor and director of the pandemic center at Brown University School of Public Health.

“No animal or human will be protected from the toll of this virus through secrecy,” Nuzzo said in a phone interview on Saturday to The Guardian. “The risk is greatest among people who have exposure to sick animals. If that is not you, I think you can take this off your worry list, [but] it does not abdicate the government of its responsibility to try to prevent a pandemic.”

For two months, outbreak of bird flu has spread at a farm about an hour from Salt Lake City that raises thousands of mink for their fur. This is not the first outbreak in recent times at a Utah fur farm. During the Covid-19 pandemic, nearly 10,000 mink in Utah died from the coronavirus and quarantines were implemented at nine farms.

Leon Page, a department public information officer, said there is no existing precedent for treating or responding to avian flu in mink. A state official told the Animal Welfare Institute: “our only options at this point are to watch them die or get emergency vaccine approval,” according to KSL.

No federal rules for mink

ProPublica reported that the US has no federal rules for dealing with sick mink. A spokesperson for the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) told the publication that the agency has no specific rules or programs for vaccinating mink or killing infected animals to stop the spread of disease.

When a bird in a poultry flock tests positive for bird flu, the entire flock is usually killed, ProPublica reported. However, the USDA spokesperson said Congress would need to provide funding for a similar program for mink.

Utah state veterinarian Amanda Price issued a verbal order to stop the movement of mink, manure and animal carcasses, rather than imposing a formal quarantine, ProPublica reported. KSL reported that officials are considering three options: killing the infected mink, quarantining them or vaccinating them. However, only US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins can approve a vaccine. Page told ProPublica that there is limited information on the right vaccine dose and how well vaccines work in mink.