Panic in Chinese fur farms. Minks, muskrats, raccoon dogs, or tanuki… These small mammals are raised on farms for their fur and sometimes their meat or their medicinal properties. In a new study, researchers inspected the tissues of 461 animals that died of disease in China between 2021 and 2024, the vast majority of which came from farms. The analyses revealed the presence of unknown viruses, and even those transmissible to humans. These results were published in the journal Nature.
The hypothesis of coronavirus originating from Chinese fur farms
Fur farms have already been in the spotlight, just after the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2021, as hypotheses about the origin of this virus continued to flourish, a chinese study was precisely blaming intensive mink farming in the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Christian Drosten, a German coronavirus specialist, also mentioned the possibility that the virus came from these farms. In the columns of the Swiss newspaper Republic, he pointed to raccoon dogs and civets.
These natural predators of bats could indeed have been contaminated before being captured and integrated into the dense populations of these farms. He added: " This is an industry where people come into close contact with animals and can therefore become infected."
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125 virus species, including 36 previously unknown
In their new study, the scientists sequenced genetic material from lung and intestinal tissues of rodents and other small mammals. 90% of them came from livestock. The result: the team identified 125 species of viruses, 36 of which were previously unknown. But even more worrying: 39 of these viruses potentially pose a "high risk" of transmission between different species, including humans. Mink and raccoon dogs had the highest number of these 'high-risk' viruses.'", specifies the team of researcher Shuo Su. Avian influenza viruses as well as different coronaviruses have been detected, but none closely related to SARS-Cov-2.
Edward Holmes, a virologist and co-author of the study, told AFP he was concerned about a virus discovered in the lungs of two farmed minks: the pipistrelle coronavirus HKU5. It is close to the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronavirus, which is potentially fatal to humans.
The density of livestock populations and the sanitary conditions on farms worry researchers who fear that these establishments promote the transmission of viruses and the exposure of humans. Firmly convinced that the wildlife trade is at the origin of the emergence of SARS-CoV-2", the researcher told AFP that " The fur trade could easily spawn another viral pandemic". As a reminder, before the health crisis, the fur market was worth nearly 18 billion euros each year. China remains the main producer.
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