First human case of avian flu identified in Canada

A person tested positive for avian flu for the first time in Canada, authorities reported Saturday.

The patient, a teenager, is being treated in a children’s hospital for avian flu caused by the H5 strain virus, said the Ministry of Health of British Columbia, a western Canadian province.

The origin of the contagion and the teenager’s contacts are under investigation.

“This is a rare event,” described local public health official Bonnie Henry.

Experts are worried

“We are conducting a thorough investigation to fully understand the source of exposure (to the virus) here” in British Columbia, she added.

Avian flu is most often spotted among populations of wild birds or poultry.

It was recently identified among cows, victims of an epidemic this year in the United States, and, at the end of October, in a pig – a first in this country.

Experts are concerned about the growing number of infected mammals, although cases in humans remain rare. They fear that high circulation could facilitate a mutation of the virus which would allow it to pass from one human to another.

In September, a person from the US state of Missouri tested positive for avian flu, without known contact with an infected animal, in an unprecedented manner in the country.

ATS