Canadian health officials confirmed on Wednesday that a fatal case of H5N1 bird flu has been reported in Canada being the first case in North America. The victim was a traveler from China when symptoms first appeared while on a flight to Canada from Beijing on Dec. 27.
Health Minister of Canada Rona Ambrose reported the case of the woman in her late 20s who spent several weeks in China as an isolated one and that the risk to the general public being infected is very low. “As Canada’s Health Minister, I want to reassure the public this is an isolated case,” Ambrose said. “The risk of H5N1 to Canadians is very low. There is no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission. It is also important for Canadians to know that this case is not part of the seasonal flu which circulates in Canada every year.”
The World Health Organization says that as of mid-December, there had been 648 laboratory-confirmed human cases of H5N1 flu, reported mostly in Asia. Of that total, 384 infections have been fatal.
Health officials are extremely cautious when it comes to bird flu viruses infecting humans. They have been closely watching the H5N1 bird flu virus but insist that the virus remains hard to catch with most human infections linked to contact with infected poultry, but scientists fear it could mutate and spread rapidly among people, potentially sparking a pandemic. “This is not a disease that’s transmitted between humans so unless you were in the infected in the area and were in contact with an infected bird you are not going to get this illness,” Dr. Theresa Tam of Health Canada said.
“This is the first evidence of this particular virus circulating in Beijing. Chinese authorities are going to be very interested. We’ve contacted them already,” Dr. Gregory Taylor, deputy chief health officer in Canada, said.Taylor said the victim only visited Beijing in China. The victim did not travel to a farm or visit markets, he said.
The CDC also made claims that of all of the 650 human cases that have been reported since 2003 have all been in direct contact or proximity to poultry. However, experts claim that once that smart little virus mutates and learns how to jump from bird to human, it is only a matter of time before it’s jumping from human to human.
This virus comes just after the news of the return of the swine flu, H11, that has been the cause of at least 10 deaths in the U.S. so far this flu season.
Click the link to see ways to avoid the bird flu virus.
