Question

Captive mink are farmed for their fur. Many mink are kept in small cages in barns. Distemper is a viral disease that can be deadly to mink and other mammals. Wild mink can pass this virus to farmed mink if they get into the barns. Strains of distemper found in wild mink rarely cause serious disease in their hosts. However, distemper strains found on affected mink farms are often very deadly, sometimes wiping out all of the animals on the farm. Researchers studying the problem have found that wild and farmed mink have the same immunity to the virus.

a) Why do you think the distemper virus is more dangerous to farmed mink?

b) If a distemper strain from farmed mink is re-introduced into the population of wild mink, what do you predict will happen to the virulence of the virus over time? Why?

Answer 1

a. The distemper virus is more dangerous to farmed mink because the fur of the farmed mink is not there. Among the immunological response against a host generation of heat or raising the body temperature is an innate immune mechanism that is common in mammals. But the farmed mink are not able to raise their body temperatures to the desired levels because their fur is gone most of the time. Another reason is that though the same immunity is present in the farmed mink and wild mink, the wild mink is living in an extreme conditions and is exposed to many different diseases when compared to the farmed mink and hence the farmed mink is more susceptive to the virus.

b. If the distemper strain is re-introduced to the population of the wild mink, there are two possibilities that the distemper strain may mutate itself to cause more serious effects on the wild mink or it may die due to the immunity of the wild mink. Over time all viruses mutate to infect their susceptible hosts and hence the virulence of the distemper strain increases.

If you have any query kindly comment before giving thumbs up. Thank you.