‘Rare event’: Canada records its first human case of bird flu | Health News

A British Columbia teenager has tested positive for H5 bird flu and health authorities are investigating.

Health authorities say Canada has confirmed its first human case of bird flu after a teenager tested positive for the virus.

The teenager from the western province of British Columbia is believed to have contracted the H5 avian flu from a bird or animal, the province said in a statement on Saturday. The infected person is being treated at a children’s hospital.

The province said it was tracing the teenager’s contacts to determine the source of the infection.

“This is a rare event,” British Columbia Medical Officer of Health Bonnie Henry said in a statement. “We are conducting a thorough investigation to fully understand the source of the exposure here in B.C.”

Canada’s Health Minister Mark Holland reassured the public that the risk to them remains low.

1/ The Office of the Provincial Health Officer in British Columbia has reported a suspected human case of H5 avian influenza acquired in Canada.

— Mark Holland (@markhollandlib) November 10, 2024

H5 avian influenza is widespread in wild birds worldwide and causes outbreaks in poultry and dairy cows in the United States, with several recent human cases among dairy and poultry workers in the United States.

The virus is also suspected of killing dozens of captive tigers and other zoo animals in Vietnam.

So far there has been no evidence of human-to-human transmission. However, if that happens, a pandemic could spread, scientists warn.

In early November, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) required that farm workers exposed to animals sick with bird flu be tested for the virus even if they showed no symptoms.

Bird flu has infected nearly 450 dairy farms in 15 states since March, and the CDC has identified 46 human cases of bird flu since April.

In Canada, British Columbia has identified at least 22 infected poultry farms since October and numerous wild birds have tested positive, according to the province.

In Canada, no cases have been reported in dairy cows and there has been no evidence of avian influenza in milk samples.

In the decades since H5 was found in humans, there have been rare cases in which an animal source could not be identified.