What would be your explanation for H5N1 Avian (clade 2.3.4.4b) in Mink farms in Spain and Finland? 2.3.4.4b is the SAME clade originally found infecting dairy cows in Texas. A large ocean apart for birds to fly..
One aspect of the Fouchier ferret study you did not mention is that the mutated virus (created through serial passages in ferrets) had actually lost ‘viral fitness’, which often happens in mutated strains.
What would be your explanation for H5N1 Avian (clade 2.3.4.4b) in Mink farms in Spain and Finland? 2.3.4.4b is the SAME clade originally found infecting dairy cows in Texas. A large ocean apart for birds to fly..
https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2023.28.3.2300001
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/avian-influenza-bird-flu/h5n1-avian-flu-strikes-more-finnish-fur-farms-second-fox-species
They never did find any evidence of origin for these infections, offering only speculation that I am aware of.
I'm thinking that these represented mass passaging experiments in Mink, which are pretty much expensive Ferrets.
Thoughts?
I am not a fan of GOF research to put it mildly.
One aspect of the Fouchier ferret study you did not mention is that the mutated virus (created through serial passages in ferrets) had actually lost ‘viral fitness’, which often happens in mutated strains.