Bird Flu Has Spread Unchecked for Over Two Months on a Utah Mink Farm, ProPublica Investigation Finds
C&T Fenn Farms, west of Provo in Utah County, Utah, raises thousands of mink for fur. According to an investigation published by ProPublica on October 23, Utah agriculture officials learned in mid-August that mink were dying of bird flu on the farm, based on communications released under the state's public records law; in the more than two months since, the outbreak has continued to spread on the farm without effective control.
The investigation found that the slow response is tied to a regulatory gap: if poultry test positive for this strain, federal rules require the whole flock to be culled and farmers are reimbursed, but there are no federal rules for how to deal with sick mink. Utah's response was handled by state veterinarian Amanda Price, who sought help from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which leads on bird flu outbreaks involving poultry and cows; USDA officials said they did not regulate mink and had no vaccine approved for them. Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spoke with Price's health department counterparts who were less involved in the outbreak, but never talked to Price herself, and she never reached out to them.
Flu experts sharply criticized the handling. The investigation quoted experts calling the cascade of missteps 'irresponsible' and 'puzzling,' with one calling it 'playing with fire.' The concern, experts say, is that mink have lungs and airways that on a cellular level are remarkably similar to those of people; mink have caught and spread other flus and have infected some humans with COVID-19, so prolonged circulation in large numbers of mink could give the virus more chances to adapt to mammals and potentially to people. According to the investigation, there is no evidence the strain can spread between people.
The investigation also reported that Utah officials put the farm business's interests front and center. Price told ProPublica the outbreak's impact on the farm's owner had been 'devastating': 'This is his life's work that he's seeing be destroyed. I really hope that you understand the humanity behind this situation.' ProPublica found that state and federal officials had done little beyond trying to keep the outbreak's existence quiet, and little to stop the virus from spilling into humans. (GSM, based on reporting by ProPublica)
Source: GSM, United States
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 水貂资料图（Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 3.0；图说：资料图，非涉事养殖场）
