A Canadian adolescent is in a critical condition in a British Columbia hospital after becoming infected with a new genotype of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).
The patient, who has not been publicly identified, developed conjunctivitis on 2 November, followed by fever and coughing. While these symptoms have been common in people infected with H5N1 bird flu in North America—until now, all US cases—the teenager in Canada then developed acute respiratory distress syndrome and was admitted to intensive care on 8 November. The diagnosis of avian flu was confirmed, and the genotype identified, on 13 November.
“This was a healthy teenager prior to this, so no underlying conditions,” said British Columbia’s health officer, Bonnie Henry, at a news conference. “It just reminds us that in young people this is a virus that can progress and cause quite severe illness, and the deterioration was quite rapid.”
The patient has been treated with “multiple medications,” she said. The Public Health Agency of Canada has said that the virus is “related to the avian influenza H5N1 viruses from the ongoing outbreak in poultry in British Columbia (Influenza A (H5N1), clade 2.3.4.4b, genotype D1.1).”
The teenager is the first person to be infected with H5N1 avian flu in Canada and the first person in North America to develop severe symptoms …
