B.C. teen with bird flu is in critical care, infection source unknown: health officer

By Chuck Chiang, The Canadian Press on November 12, 2024.

B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry steps away from the podium after speaking during a news conference in Vancouver, on Monday, Jan. 30, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

British Columbia’s provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says the teenager who has tested positive for bird flu is in critical condition and being treated at B.C. Children’s Hospital.

Henry says the teen, who has the first presumptive human case of bird flu contracted in Canada, was admitted to hospital late Friday.

She says it’s likely that the teenager contracted the illness from exposure to an animal or the environment, although there’s a “very real possibility” that the source will never be found.

Henry says 12 other people have been tested for avian flu, including medical workers who came into contact with the teen, but they haven’t identified anyone else as having the illness.

She says they have found no link between the teen and any of the two dozen poultry farms in B.C. that have suffered avian flu outbreaks during the fall migration of wild birds.

The provincial health officer said earlier that infection in a human – caused by the H5N1 strain of avian influenza – is rare and has happened in only a handful of cases in the U.S. and abroad.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.