Columbia (BC) health authorities confirmed on 9 November the first suspected human case of H5 avian influenza infection in the province. This is the first time that a suspected human case of the virus has been detected in Canada.
The patient, a teenager, is being treated at the Columbia Children’s Hospital in Vancouver. Her sample tested positive for H5 avian influenza at the Provincial Center for Disease Control’s public health laboratory. Samples are pending confirmation by the Canadian National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg.
Local health authorities have initiated a public health investigation with a view to identifying the source of exposure and associated contacts. No other cases have been identified.
Federal public health officials are working with Columbia health officials to keep people safe, Health Canada Mark Hollander said via a social media account. Based on the available evidence, the risk to the public remains low. He added that there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the virus among cases detected worldwide to date.
Since the beginning of October this year, Columbia Health and other relevant departments in poultry farms and wild birds in the H5N1 avian influenza outbreak.
To date, only one human case of avian influenza has been reported. In early 2014, a Canadian resident died of H5N1 infection after returning from abroad.