BC’s Bonnie Henry provides an update on bird flu

The teenager who contracted Canada’s first-ever human case of bird flu is in critical condition in hospital, said provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry Tuesday.

“Our thoughts remain with the individual and their family at this most difficult time,” she said in an update on the situation.

The youngster is suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome, caused by inflammation in the lungs, Henry later added.

Henry said officials in B.C. are still waiting for confirmation from a national laboratory, but the assumption is that the virus is H5N1 as that strain has spread among wild birds and poultry in North America.

About three dozen people who were in contact with the infected youngster have been tested for bird flu and given an antiviral drug to prevent symptoms if they were infected, but Henry said no other cases have been identified so far.

People can become infected with bird flu by breathing in the virus in aerosols and droplets, which land in the H5 receptors in the eyes, the back of the throat, the nose or deep in the lungs, Henry said.

Henry said public health is currently trying to determine where exactly the teen was exposed, adding that they are following up on some leads, but it does not appear the infection happened on a poultry farm.

As of Tuesday, 26 facilities in B.C. are currently infected with bird flu, mostly in the Fraser Valley.

There are 46 confirmed human cases of H5N1 in the United States, mostly among dairy workers, where hundreds of herds have been infected in Washington, Oregon and California. The virus has not yet been found in dairy cattle in Canada.

Henry said cases in the U.S. have been mostly “very mild,” but noted that if we go back to the early bird flu cases — about 900 people have been infected worldwide since 1997 — the death rate is “quite high,” especially if children be sick. exposed.

“Almost all of these can be traced back to direct contact with birds, sick birds or sick animals. Very few have been transmitted from person to person,” she said. “So in some ways this is reassuring because this virus doesn’t seem to spread easily between people if they get infections, but it also causes very serious illness, especially in young people.”

Henry said officials currently see no risk of many people getting sick with H5N1 in B.C., but reminded everyone to stay away from sick or dead birds and keep pets away — a dog in Ontario was recently infected after eating a dead one bird – to stay up to date on the flu vaccine and stay home if you are sick.

This is a developing story and will be updated.