Article Text
Abstract
Objective Unprecedented SARS-CoV-2 infections in farmed minks raised immediate concerns regarding transmission to humans and initiated intensive environmental investigations to assess occupational and environmental exposure.
Methods Air sampling was performed at infected Dutch mink farms, at farm premises and at nearby residential sites. A range of other environmental samples were collected from minks’ housing units, including bedding materials. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was analysed in all samples by quantitative PCR.
Results Inside the farms, considerable levels of SARS-CoV-2 RNA were found in airborne dust, especially in personal inhalable dust samples (approximately 1000–10 000 copies/m3). Most of the settling dust samples tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA (82%, 75 of 92). SARS-CoV-2 RNA was not detected in outdoor air samples, except for those collected near the entrance of the most recently infected farm. Many samples of minks’ housing units and surfaces contained SARS-CoV-2 RNA.
Conclusions Infected mink farms can be highly contaminated with SARS-CoV-2 RNA. This warns of occupational exposure, which was substantiated by considerable SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations in personal air samples. Dispersion of SARS-CoV-2 to outdoor air was found to be limited and SARS-CoV-2 RNA was not detected in air samples collected beyond farm premises, implying a negligible risk of environmental exposure to nearby communities. Our occupational and environmental risk assessment is in line with whole genome sequencing analyses showing mink-to-human transmission among farm workers, but no indications of direct zoonotic transmission events to nearby communities.
- environment
- COVID-19
- air pollution
- farmers
- viruses
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All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as supplementary information.
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Footnotes
Contributors Conception and design: MMTdR, LAMS, BBOM, RS, AS, MS, RB, R-JM, MK, AS and WHMvdP. Data collection and laboratory work: MMTdR, RWH-VDH, MMH, FH, ME, WvdH, KM, SN, IvS, JS and LAMS. Data analyses and interpretation: MMTdR together with LAMS, with additional input from R-JM, MK, AS and WHMvdP. Preparation of the manuscript: MMTdR, together with LAMS, with additional input from RWH-VDH, MMH, FH, ME, WvdH, KM, SN, BBOM, IvS, RS, ANvdS, MS, JS, RB, R-JM, MK, AS and WHMvdP.
Funding This work was funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Foods.
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
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