Bird flu in B.C.: Dr. Bonnie Henry to provide update on Canada's first human case

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B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry will provide an update today on the status of the teenager who was infected with H5N1 avian influenza.

Henry is holding a news conference at 11 a.m. PT. Tuesday.

In the most recent update earlier this month, Henry said the teen was in critical condition with respiratory issues in B.C. Children’s Hospital.

The teen, who lives in the Fraser Health Region, first developed symptoms on Nov. 2 and was tested on Nov. 8. The health ministry confirmed the teen tested positive for avian influenza on Nov. 9.

It was the first positive case of bird flu detected in a human in Canada.

The ministry launched a public-health investigation to determine the source of exposure and identify people the teen may have come into contact with while infected.

Contact tracing has not identified anyone else linked to the teen who had fallen sick, said Henry previously,

The teen was not on a farm and there are no clear links or contacts to poultry farms. While health authorities believe the teen likely contracted the virus by exposure to either a sick animal or an environmental factor, it is a “very real possibility” the source may not be determined, Henry had said.

There are 55 confirmed cases of bird flu in human in the United States this year, mostly in California, Colorado and Washington State.

H5 bird flu is spread primarily by migrating wild birds and is causing outbreaks in Canada and around the world.

In B.C., 49 commercial poultry farms in the Fraser Valley and a handful of smaller, non-commercial operations have been infected with bird flu this year since the start of the fall migratory season in October.

According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, more than 12 million birds have been infected across Canada since the current cycle began in 2022, including more than six million in B.C.

More to come …

chchan@postmedia.com