PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Tomokazu Konishi
TI  - SARS-CoV-2 mutations among minks show reduced lethality and infectivity to humans
AID  - 10.1101/2020.12.23.424267
DP  - 2020 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2020.12.23.424267
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/12/27/2020.12.23.424267.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/12/27/2020.12.23.424267.full
AB  - SARS-CoV-2 infection in minks has become a serious problem, as the virus may mutate and reinfect humans; some countries have decided to cull minks. Here, the virus sequencing data in minks were analysed and compared to those of human-virus. Although the mink-virus maintained the characteristics of human-virus, some variants rapidly mutated, adapting to minks. Some mink-derived variants infected humans, which accounted for 40% of the total SARS-CoV-2 cases in the Netherlands. These variants appear to be less lethal and infective compared to those in humans. Variants that have mutated further among minks were not found in humans. Such mink-virus might be suitable for vaccination for humans, such as in the case of the smallpox virus, which is less infective and toxic to humans.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.