Category: Reservoir
Belgium: Two hippos test positive for Sars-Cov-2 in Antwerp Zoo
Two hippos have tested positive for Covid-19 at Antwerp zoo, according to a press release.
“Both animals, Imani and Hermien, apart from a runny nose, show no other symptoms and are doing well,” the ZOO says. “The animals are in isolation and the keepers are taking even stricter safety measures.”
The cause of the infection is not known. ZOO Antwerp says none of the keepers have recently contracted the disease, nor have any staff members shown any symptoms.
** A list of all animals infected with Sars-Cov-2 that we have reported on over the last two years can be found here under our “Animals” category
Image by Kiều Trường from Pixabay
Canada: SARS-CoV-2 found in white-tailed deer
Canada has confirmed the first detections of SARS-CoV-2 in three free-ranging white-tailed deer. These deer were sampled between November 6 to 8, 2021, in the Estrie region of Quebec.
Samples for SARS-CoV-2 were collected through a big game registration station in southern Quebec. Similar to findings in the United States, the deer showed no evidence of clinical signs of disease, and were all apparently healthy. The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) was notified on December 1, 2021.
As this is the first detection of SARS-CoV-2 in wildlife in Canada, information on the impacts and spread of the virus in wild deer populations is currently limited. This finding emphasizes the importance of ongoing surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 in wildlife to increase our understanding about SARS-CoV-2 on the human-animal interface.
Environment and Climate Change Canada press release
Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay
UK: Third Omicron case confirmed, was last seen in Westminster
A third person infected with the Omicron coronavirus variant has been identified in the UK, health officials have said. They are said to have been in Westminster in central London.
The individual, who is no longer in the country, tested positive after travelling to Britain and “is linked to travel to southern Africa”.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is now carrying out targeted testing where the individual visited when they were likely to be infectious. They are said to have been in Westminster in central London.
Croatia: 2 lions infected with Covid at Zagreb zoo
COVID-19 has been found in the feces and nose swabs of two lions in the Zagreb zoo, which is the first confirmation of this virus in a species in a Croatian zoo, the Agriculture Ministry said on Wednesday.
The two lions were tested after manifesting the clinical signs of the disease and due to their epidemiological link to a person (the lions’ handler) with Covid-19. This was done as part of a programme monitoring SARS-CoV-2 infection in animals and determining their role in the epidemiology of Covid-19 in Croatia, a press release said.
Netherlands: Gorillas and lions infected with Covid at Rotterdam zoo
Netherlands: Gorillas and lions infected with Covid at Rotterdam zoo
Several gorillas and lions at Rotterdam’s Blijdorp Zoo have tested positive for coronavirus, which they may have picked up from an employee without any symptoms, the zoo confirmed. The animals are showing flu-like symptoms: they are listless, have less appetite, a slight cough and the gorillas also have stomach and intestinal problems, the zoo said.
USA: Up to 80 percent of deer sampled in Iowa are infected with Covid
USA: Three snow leopards die of COVID-19 at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo in Nebraska
Three snow leopards have died of COVID-19 at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo in Nebraska, officials say. It follows the death of another snow leopard at a South Dakota zoo last month.
“It is with deep sadness that we inform our community that three snow leopards at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo have passed away due to complications of COVID-19,” the zoo said in a statement. “This loss is truly heartbreaking, and we are all grieving together.”
Last month, a snow leopard at the Great Plains Zoo in South Dakota also died of coronavirus.
USA: Up to 80 percent of deer sampled in Iowa are infected with Covid
Image by René Schellenberg from Pixabay
Canada: Covid transmission between mink, between mink and humans, and humans back to mink
The Canadian provincial Minister of Agriculture Lana Popham unveiled a process to permanently phase out the farming of mink, due to concerns over COVID-19. The process is expected to be completed by April 2025. There are nine mink farms in B.C. with a total of 318,000 mink. Animals on three of those farms have been infected with COVID-19.
“That has led to transmission between mink, between mink and humans, and humans back to mink,” said Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer, on Friday.
Mink: 100% infection, recovery and then 75% re-infection of farmed mink
USA: Hyenas test positive for Sars-Cov-2 in Colorado zoo
Two hyenas at the Denver Zoo have tested positive for the coronavirus, the first confirmed cases among the animals worldwide. In addition to the two hyenas, 11 lions and two tigers at the zoo also tested positive for the virus.
Zoo officials said the hyenas — 22-year-old Ngozi and 23-year-old Kibo — are experiencing mild symptoms, including slight lethargy, some nasal discharge and an occasional cough.
USA: Up to 80 percent of deer sampled in Iowa are infected with Covid
Up to 80 percent of deer sampled from April 2020 through January 2021 in Iowa were infected, a new study indicated.
A new study of hundreds of white-tailed deer infected with the coronavirus in Iowa has found that the animals probably are contracting the virus from humans, and then rapidly spreading it among one another, according to researchers.
Scientists said the findings pose worrisome implications for the spread of the coronavirus, although they were not able to identify how the deer might have contracted the virus from humans. There is no evidence that deer have passed the virus back to humans.
Preprint: Multiple spillovers and onward transmission of SARS-Cov-2 in free-living and captive White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus)
Image by Robert Woeger from Pixabay
Will the UK’s mass Covid infection experiment pay off?
On the 19th July 2021, Britain’s mass Covid infection experiment began. It was dubbed “Freedom Day”, and almost all Covid restrictions were lifted. Despite the record number of Covid infections that resulted from the introduction of the policy, mitigations weren’t reintroduced.
The back-of-a-fag-packet reasoning behind the Freedom Day plan was that an artificially created summer Covid wave would pre-empt an even larger winter Covid wave, thus preventing its health service from being overwhelmed.
In pursuance of the plan, all primary and secondary schools were ordered to reopen for the summer term. Britain’s children were forced to attend schools where all mitigations had been deliberately removed, thus ensuring the maximum spread of the virus throughout the greater population.
We said of the plan, at the time it was introduced, that the UK would simply risk creating two Covid waves instead of one.
So how is the mass infection experiment going?
Figures from the UK Covid app ZOE and Britain’s Office of National Statistics are absolutely damning – Freedom Day has gone horribly wrong.
Millions of British adults and children were infected by Covid over the course of the summer, and thousands died.
It’s been a four month long Covid wave that has been unprecedented in its scale. Incredibly, the number of infections produced by the artificial wave surpassed even the heights of the previous deadly winter wave.
Although daily Covid deaths were reduced compared to the first winter wave, the sheer length of the summer wave has meant that far more people were infected than during the previous winter wave. The infection rate is still increasing, and the health service has been overwhelmed in many areas,
So, was the mass infection experiment a success? If the artificial wave leads to a reduced case load for the health service in the winter, will it have been worth it?
NO and NO.
The British government may have brought forward thousands of infections and deaths that would have otherwise happened in the winter. The UK may even see a drop in cases and deaths over the next few months because of that. But what they have failed to take into account is the long-term damage inflicted on those that have been infected by Covid, and also on those who will be reinfected by it in the future.
To put it simply, in terms that even Boris Johnson and Patrick Vallance might understand:
Covid-19 is a global squid game. There are only two rules to the game:
1) Don’t die of the virus
2) Don’t become infected with the virus
Breaking either of these two rules will lead to a player being eliminated.
It’s a lesson that the British have failed to understand from the very beginning of the pandemic.
Sars-Cov-2 is a BSL4 pathogen. It is not something you should be encouraging to waft through schools, offices, supermarkets and trains. After two years of the pandemic, this really shouldn’t need to be explained repeatedly.
The British government have gambled with the lives of their entire population. It was a gamble they didn’t need to take, and it’s a gamble they will most certainly lose as long-term sickness rates soar.
Let’s hope the victims of this reckless plan manage to see justice one day.
USA: Covid-19 vaccine breakthrough case in a tiger
There’s a headline we never thought we would write.
A partially vaccinated 11-year-old tiger at the Brookfield Zoo has tested positive for COVID-19. The zoo received confirmation of Amur tiger Malena’s positive test this week after she started showing mild respiratory symptoms, including coughing and sneezing, late last week. Those symptoms are consistent with what other zoos have seen in big cats infected with COVID-19, according to a statement from the Chicago Zoological Society.
USA: Six African lions, a Sumatran tiger and two Amur tigers infected with Covid in Washington Zoo
Photo by Frida Bredesen on Unsplash
Denmark: It is too dangerous to resume mink breeding in 2022
It is still risky to have mink breeding in Denmark in 2020. This is the assessment from Denmark’s SSI, the Statens Serum Institut.
In an email response to the parliamentary parties, which TV 2 has seen, it appears that SSI still stands by the previous risk assessment , which they broadcast on 14 June this year.
It stated that “keeping mink in Denmark after 2021 may entail a health risk for people of unknown size”, and it is thus this health risk which, SSI believes, is still present in mink breeding.
The email states that “the conclusions of the health professional assessment of the risk to human health in the event of a resumption of mink keeping after 2021 of 14 June 2021 remain valid.”
TV2nord report (In Danish)
* * Thankfully someone in Europe still has their eye on the ball **
Last year:
#Coronavirus infected mink spilled over 12 miles of road in Denmark
USA: Ferret in Florida tests positive for COVID-19
A Florida ferret has tested positive for COVID-19, officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed Friday. The USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories confirmed in a prepared statement that samples were taken after the animal showed clinical signs of COVID-19, including coughing and sneezing.
Florida’s Bronson Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory performed the ferret’s test, and authorities suspect that a human infected the animal, WPLG reported. Lab officials also confirmed that the Florida ferret is the first in the country to test positive for the virus.
USA: Six African lions, a Sumatran tiger and two Amur tigers infected with Covid in Washington Zoo
Six African lions, a Sumatran tiger and two Amur tigers at the National Zoo in Washington have tested positive for the coronavirus, which causes Covid-19, the Smithsonian Institution said Friday.
Animal caretakers observed appetites, coughing, sneezing and lethargy in six African lions, a Sumatran tiger and two Amur tigers, and final results were expected in coming days to confirm the presumptive positive coronavirus test results, said the Smithsonian, which operates the zoo.
“All lions and tigers are being treated with anti-inflammatories and anti-nausea medication to address discomfort and decreased appetite,” the zoo said on its website, adding that they were also being treated with antibiotics for possible secondary bacterial pneumonia.
Image by Kevinsphotos from Pixabay