In a letter sent to New England journal of MedicineCanadian health authorities write that the British Columbian teenager who tested positive for the avian flu virus is no longer contagious and no longer requires respiratory assistance.
The letter (New window) (in English), released Tuesday, is signed by doctors from the British Columbia Center for Disease Control (BCCDC), British Columbia Children’s Hospital, the Public Health Agency of Canada and the provincial Ministry of Agriculture and Food.
The letter reveals that the patient is 13 years old. She was admitted to the emergency department of a hospital in the province on November 4. She then had a fever and conjunctivitis.
The teenager, described as having a history of mild asthma and a high body mass index, was initially sent home without being hospitalized. She then developed a cough, vomiting and diarrhea before returning to the hospital on November 7 in respiratory distress.
The report explains that the patient was transferred the following day to a pediatric intensive care unit at BC Children’s Hospital. She notably benefited from tracheal intubation.
Source of exposure not determined
The website of the New England journal of Medicine reveals that the patient was no longer contagious from November 29 and that she no longer required respiratory assistance from December 18.
It also reads that the source of his exposure to the H5N1 virus could not be determined at this time. It is specified that there were no other people infected at the patient’s home or at her school.
The patient’s infection with the H5N1 virus, announced in November, is the first case of avian flu contracted in Canada by a human.
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Micrograph of avian influenza A H5N1 virus (brown) grown in cells (green). (Archive photo)
Photo : CDC/Cynthia Goldsmith/Jackie Katz/Sharif Zaki
Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist at Toronto General Hospital, says the letter and the symptoms described in it match those seen in other flu patients over the past two decades.
Considering the seriousness of this infection, I think it’s pretty fair to say that this is a terrible virus
he declared to -/CBC.
Isaac Bogoch adds that the virus is not yet easily transmitted from human to human, but he urges authorities to take precautions.
We really need to ensure that there are as few mammals as possible infected with this virus. So we don’t give it the opportunity to mutate so that it can be transmitted more easily between humans.
With information from The Canadian Press and Shaurya Kshatri
