Human bird flu has hospitalized a Canadian teenager at British Columbia Children’s Hospital. He is the first person in Canada to test positive for the bird flu virus.
The B.C. teen likely acquired the virus from exposure to a bird or animal. B.C. Health said the infection is a rare event. Canadian Health Officials are working to determine how the youth was exposed to the virus. He likely was exposed to an infected bird or animal.
Canada has reported 23 infected poultry farms since October. It has not had any infected cattle or milk.
The Canadian teen is receiving treatment at the B.C. Children’s Hospital for H5 avian flu, according to provincial health
Health Canada is investigating the source of contagion and any possible contacts. It said, “We are conducting a thorough investigation to understand the source of exposure here in B.C fully.”
Six states south of the border in the United States have experienced 46 cases of human bird flu. Exposure to cattle is blamed for 25 of the U.S. cases, while exposure to poultry accounts for 20 cases. The cause of one human flu case has not been determined.
Bird flu was first commonly found in wild birds and poultry, but in recent months, it has been detected in mammals. The outbreak in cattle has been experienced since last March in the United States.
Occasional human infections have occurred through close contact or contaminated environments. Scientists have expressed concern about the growing number of mammals becoming infected by bird flu, even if cases in humans remain rare.
The fear is that a high transmission rate might follow the mutation of the virus, leading to human transmission.
The single case of unknown exposure occurred in Missouri, where a test positive for bird flu was obtained without any known exposure to infected animals.
All previous human bird flu cases in the United States were linked to exposure to either poultry or cattle.
However, there has not been evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission, which would significantly increase the threat level.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) keeps track weekly of Detections in Animals as follows:
10,528 wild birds detected as of Nov. 5
51 jurisdictions with bird flu in wild birds
105,197,601 poultry affected as of Nov. 8
48 states with outbreaks of poultry
473 dairy herds affected as of Nov. 8
15 states with outbreaks of dairy cows
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