On a mink farm with about 15,000 animals, over 75% tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA in throat swabs and 100% of tested animals were seropositive. During follow-up studies, after a period of more than 2 months without virus detection, over 75% of tested animals scored positive again for SARS-CoV-2 RNA.
Whole genome sequencing showed that the virus circulating during this re-infection was most closely related to the virus identified in the first outbreak on this farm but additional sequence changes had occurred. Animals had much higher levels of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies after re-infection than at free-testing. Thus, following recovery from an initial infection, seropositive mink rapidly became susceptible to re-infection by SARS-CoV-2.
