The Public Health Agency of Canada has now confirmed that a teen in B.C. Children’s Hospital is infected with a human case of avian influenza (also known as bird flu) caused by influenza A(H5N1) virus in Canada.
This is the first domestically acquired human case of H5N1 avian influenza.
The teen, who is in critical care in hospital, B.C.’s provincial health officer confirmed on Tuesday, was admitted on Nov. 8.
On Nov. 9, the teen tested presumptive positive for H5N1.
On Nov. 13, the Public Health Agency of Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg “confirmed that the individual has avian influenza H5N1 and the genomic sequencing result indicates that the virus is related to the avian influenza H5N1 viruses from the ongoing outbreak in poultry in British Columbia (Influenza A (H5N1), clade 2.3.4.4b, genotype D.1.1),” the organization said in a statement.
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