B.C. has its first human case of avian flu: Here's what you need to know

Article content B.C.’s provincial heath officer, Dr.

Bonnie Henry, has of avian flu had been detected in B.C. It was also the first case detected in Canada in a human, her announcement said.



Henry said Friday that a teenager living in the Fraser Health region had tested positive for the H5N1 virus and was in B.C. Children’s Hospital.

Here is what you need to know. Avian flu viruses occur naturally among wild birds and spread easily from bird to bird. In 2022, a more infectious avian flu virus appeared in poultry farms in Canada and the U.

S. The virus has now spread to dairy cattle, foxes, skunks, marine mammals and more. There have also been isolated reports of the virus in goats and in a pig in the U.

S. Since the beginning of October, at least 22 poultry premises have been identified as infected in B.C.

, along with numerous wild birds testing positive. Millions of farmed birds have been put down in Canada since 2022. Influenza viruses are adaptable and can change when strains from humans or different animal species mix and exchange genetic information.

Avian influenza could become more serious if the virus develops the ability to transmit from person to person, with potential for human-to-human transmission. The first case of avian flu appeared in humans in Hong Kong in 1997. Since then there have been sporadic reports of human infection.

But the first case reported in North America was in the U.S. in April this year in a worker at a diary farm.

In B.C. and Canada, there have been no cases reported in dairy cattle and no evidence of avian influenza in samples of milk.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recent blood tests for 115 farm workers in Michigan and Colorado showed that eight workers had antibodies that indicated a previous infection with the virus known as Type A H5N1 influenza.

Henry said B.C.’s chief veterinarian and the B.

C. Centre for Disease Control are working to determine how the B.C.

teen contracted the disease. Avian influenza viruses can spread through animal feces and secretions (such as mucus and saliva). Human infections can happen when the virus gets into a person’s mouth, nose or eyes, or is inhaled.

Once infected, people may not develop any symptoms at all. However, symptoms that may appear include a cough, shortness of breath, fever and aching muscles. If symptoms do develop, illness can range from mild to very severe, including death.

It usually takes from one to five days, and occasionally longer, for symptoms to appear after exposure. According to Health Canada, around half of the over 900 human cases reported around the world since 1997 (mostly in Africa and Asia), have been fatal. However, this may be an overestimate given that mild infections can go undetected and under-reported.

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