Volume 28, Number 6—June 2022
Research Letter
Experimental Infection of Mink with SARS-COV-2 Omicron Variant and Subsequent Clinical Disease
, Kirsi Aaltonen1, Kristel Kegler, Vinaya Venkat, Thanakorn Niamsap, Lauri Kareinen, Rasmus Malmgren, Olga Kivelä, Nina Atanasova, Pamela Österlund, Teemu Smura, Antti Sukura, Tomas Strandin, Lara Dutra, Olli Vapalahti, Heli Nordgren, Ravi Kant, and Tarja Sironen
Table
Results of PCR and cell culture testing for SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in saliva samples from 3 experimentally infected mink and 2 uninfected recipient mink*
| Mink ID | 1 dpi | 2 dpi | 3 dpi | 4 dpi | 5 dpi | 6 dpi | 7 dpi | 8 dpi | 9 dpi | 10 dpi |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infected mink | ||||||||||
| 451 | +/ND | +/+ | +/− | +/− | +/− | +/− | +/− | |||
| 453 | +/(+) | +/− | +/− | +/− | +/− | +/− | +/ND | |||
| 455 |
+/− |
+/− |
+/(+) |
+/− |
+/− |
+/− |
+/− |
|||
| Recipient mink | ||||||||||
| 452 | (+)/+ | −/− | +/ND | +/− | +/− | +/+ | +/− | +/− | +/− | (+)/− |
| 454 | -/+ | −/+ | (+)/− | +/− | +/− | +/ND | +/ND | +/− | +/− | +/− |
*Plus sign alone indicates signal detected with both primers of Luna SARS-CoV-2 reverse transcription quantitative PCR Multiplex Assay Kit (New England BioLabs Inc., https://www.neb.com) and cycle threshold value from cell culture media was >5 cycles lower than that of the original saliva sample. Plus symbol in parentheses indicates signal detected only with 1 of 2 primers and cycle threshold value from cell culture media was 1–5 cycles lower than that of the original saliva sample. Minus sign indicates no signal with either of the primers and no cytopathic effect was detected in cell culture or cycle threshold value from the culture media was the same or higher than that of the original sample. dpi, days postinfection; ID, identification; ND, not done.
1These authors contributed equally to this article.