On January 24, according to the Spanish newspaper El País, an outbreak of bird flu broke out in a farm in the Galicia region of Spain.
According to the report, a recent scientific study shows that the bird flu virus has been transferred from wild birds to mink populations, and has produced virus variants that can be transmitted among mammals.
Previously, the Galician regional government had slaughtered 52,000 mink on farms. No farm staff have reported any infection so far.
Koopmans, a Dutch virologist working for the World Health Organization, issued a warning that the possibility of continued mutations of the bird flu virus could not be ruled out.