Authorities reported on Saturday that a person in Canada has tested positive for bird flu for the first time. The patient, a teenager, is being treated at a children’s hospital for bird flu caused by the H5 strain of the virus, the health ministry in the western Canadian province of British Columbia said.
The source of the contagion and the teenager’s contacts are under investigation. “This is a rare event,” said local public health officer Bonnie Henry. “We are conducting a thorough investigation to fully understand the source of exposure (to the virus) here” in British Columbia, she added.
Experts are worried
Avian flu is most often found in populations of wild birds or poultry. It was recently identified in cows, the victims of an outbreak in the United States this year, and in a pig in late October – a first in that country.
Experts are concerned about the growing number of infected mammals, even though human cases remain rare. They fear that high circulation could facilitate a virus mutation that would allow it to pass from one human to another.
In September, a person from the US state of Missouri tested positive for bird flu, without known contact with an infected animal, an unprecedented case in the country.
