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Headline: B!gGo Finance, 11/1/2026
A six-week head start, and one mutation to watch
The epidemiological timeline is the story here. Genetic analysis places the most recent common ancestor of the Utah mink cluster at July 4, 2026. The samples weren't collected until August 7, and detection was confirmed ten days later. That means the virus circulated in the mink sheds for roughly six weeks before anyone looked. By September 29, the outbreak was reportedly still ongoing — and no further samples had been taken after that first batch. [emphasis added]
The sequences point to a single introduction, followed by diversification. Ten genomes, one cluster, all nested inside the 2026 B3.13 cattle group alongside strains from Idaho, Texas, and Utah dairy herds. One shared mutation, PB1 K388R, appears in every mink virus — a change rarely seen in wild birds but previously documented in Spanish mink infected in October 2022. The viruses also carry PB2 M631L, a cattle mutation known to boost replication in mammals.
October-November 2026
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July-August 2026
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January-April 2026
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