A Canadian teenager is in critical condition after contracting bird flu, the first known case of local human infectionas revealed by Canadian authorities. The Director of Health of the province of British Columbia (west), Bonnie Henry, has reported that the young man tested positive for the infection and is suffering from serious respiratory problems.
The patient is initially being treated with Tamiflu, an antiviral medication. Henry added that the preliminary results of the tests carried out on the teenager, whose identity has not been revealed, indicate the infection of the H5 virus of avian flu.
The young man went to the emergency services on November 2, but was discharged and sent home. His condition worsened days later and finally He was admitted last Friday at a children’s hospital in Vancouver.
Canadian health authorities have tested nearly 40 people in the patient’s family environment without detecting any other cases of avian flu. According to Dr. Henry, the young man was not in direct contact with any birds immediately before showing symptoms, although it has been done with other animals, which have tested negative.
In 2014, a Canadian citizen died from bird flu after returning from China, where he had contracted the infection. In the US, several dozen cases of avian flu among humans have been recorded, always related to contact with cows or poultry on agricultural farms.
Until May of this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) had counted 889 confirmed cases of bird flu since 2003, of which 463 caused death to infected individuals.
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