B.C. teen with Canada's first human case of avian flu in critical condition, Dr. Bonnie Henry says

The teenager who is sick with the first-ever human case of avian influenza acquired in Canada is in hospital in critical condition, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said Tuesday.

The teenager who is sick with the first-ever human case of avian influenza acquired in Canada is in hospital in critical condition, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said Tuesday.

“Our thoughts continue to be with the person and their family in this most difficult time,” she said in an update on the situation.

The young person is suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome caused by inflammation in the lungs, Henry later added. They were admitted to BC Children’s Hospital Friday night, after they first started experiencing symptoms on Nov. 2, which were an eye infection, a fever and a cough.

Officials are not releasing the exact age or gender of the teenager, who lives in the Fraser Health region, for privacy reasons.

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

About three dozen people who were in contact with the infected young person have been tested for avian influenza and given an antiviral medication to prevent symptoms should they be infected, but Henry said no other cases have been identified so far.

Humans can be infected with bird flu by inhaling the virus in aerosols and droplets, which get into H5 receptors in the eyes, the back of the throat, nose, or deep in the lungs, Henry said.