The teenager who tested positive for avian flu in British Columbia is in critical condition and “suffering from acute respiratory distress” while being treated at BC Children’s Hospital, the BC Children’s Hospital said. provincial health official.
Dr. Bonnie Henry said Tuesday that ongoing contact tracing has not identified any other people linked to the case of the teen who became ill.
Henry said it’s very likely that the infection – the first suspected human case of bird flu contracted in Canada – was triggered by exposure to a sick animal or something in the environment.
“That said, I must caution that there is a very real possibility that we will never be able to determine the source,” she warned. But at this point, we have a number of leads that we’re following, and we’re going to pursue them all.”
The teen, who lives in the Fraser Health region south of Metro Vancouver, first reported symptoms on Nov. 2 and was admitted to hospital on Nov. 8 as his condition worsened.
Bonnie Henry said the sick teenager was not on a farm and there was no obvious connection or contact with commercial poultry farms to quickly determine the exact source of the infection.
British Columbia is currently facing a new wave of avian flu infections in commercial poultry operations, and Dr. Henry said approximately 26 facilities are currently affected.
Infections among commercial flocks have surged in recent weeks as migratory birds fly south for the winter across the region, which Ms Henry said coincides with the current wave of bird flu infections which is concentrated in the Fraser Valley.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said about 6.4 million birds in British Columbia’s domestic flocks have been affected by avian flu since the spring of 2022.
Henry said 12 other people were tested for bird flu, including medical workers who came into contact with the teenager, whose gender was not disclosed. She recalled that infection in humans – caused by the H5N1 strain of avian flu – is rare, with the only other case recorded in Canada having been in Alberta in 2014, discovered in a person who had probably contracted the virus during from a trip to China. Health Canada said that person died as a result of the infection.
Dr. Henry said there have been 46 confirmed cases of H5N1 infections in the United States this year, but the vast majority of them were livestock producers in California, Oregon and the state. from Washington, who were likely infected with the virus transmitted from birds to dairy cows and then to humans.
Infections occur when the virus is inhaled, and Henry stressed that the cases show that human-to-human transmissions are rare and that infections appear to pose the greatest danger to young people.
“So what does this mean for most people here in British Columbia? We do not believe at the moment that there is a risk that many people will be sick, assured Ms. Henry. One of the important things we need to do right now – knowing that this virus is circulating in wild birds, so primarily geese and ducks – is to make sure that if you come into contact with sick or dead birds, you don’t touch them directly.”
“Keep pets away from them,” she added. […] For example, a dog in Ontario was recently infected by eating or biting a dead bird. And if the dog is infected, it can also transmit it to humans.
