Public health risk analysis due to the spread of the Covid-19 virus from the free living minks and mink farms in Bulgaria

Abstract

The people is currently facing a pandemic of a new coronavirus - severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes Covid-19 disease. The virus spreads effectively among humans, causing mainly respiratory diseases of varying severity. In April 2020, the Dutch government reported the occurrence of respiratory disease and increased mortality on two mink farms in the Netherlands, with interstitial pneumonia and the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in organ samples and nasopharyngeal swabs. With this work we aim to analyze the health risk to public due to the spread of the virus Covid-19 from breeding mink farms in Bulgaria. Based on the analysis, we can conclude that if Covid-19 infection enters minks in Bulgaria (both in farms and in the wild population), the probability that these animals will become a reservoir for the virus and thus present a permanent source of infection for humans is large.