To study whether mink can transmit Omicron, we placed 2 uninfected indirect contact mink in separate cages 10–20 cm from the cages of the infected mink and followed their progress for 10 days. Similar signs to the experimentally infected mink developed in both initially uninfected mink, and they were consistently PCR-positive from day 3 onwards.
The Omicron variant is different from other variants in its more efficient spread, primarily attributable to immune escape and likely milder symptoms in humans. These factors make preventing virus introduction into mink farms through asymptomatic humans more difficult, creating a more substantial risk for the formation of virus reservoirs among farmed or feral mink.
This study shows that mink can be infected by Omicron and, crucially, efficiently transmit the virus to other mink. Despite the reports of lower virulence of Omicron, mink experience clinical disease and nasal and pulmonary microscopic lesions that closely resemble infection with previously reported variants in mink and humans.
