The British Columbia teenager who tested positive for avian influenza, and who was the first human case acquired in Canada, was discharged on Tuesday after a two-month stay at the BC Children’s Hospital.
The 13-year-old girl was admitted to hospital on Nov. 7 last year after arriving at the emergency department in respiratory distress with hemodynamic instability, a condition where the body is unable to maintain blood flow. She was transferred to a pediatric intensive-care unit for treatment, which included a temporary tracheal intubation and supplemental oxygen, until her condition improved. Two months to the day, she was able to return home.
The family of the B.C. teen, in a statement provided by the BC Children’s Hospital on Thursday, asked for privacy as their daughter continues to heal and the family works to rebuild their lives after the traumatic ordeal. “This has been a life changing experience for our daughter and for our family, and we are grateful to have her home with us,” they said.
An investigation into her case was closed in late November despite public-health officials having been unable to determine the source of her infection. The BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) said on Wednesday that it is comparing the genetic features of the teen’s case with that of a Louisiana patient whose death was reported this week – the first death in the United States attributed to H5N1.
There was no evidence of human-to-human transmission in either case, but public-health officials in both countries have voiced concerns that the risk to humans is increasing as the virus mutates.
An analysis by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, published in late December, identified low-frequency mutations in the hemagglutinin gene of a sample sequenced from the Louisiana patient that were not found in virus sequences from poultry samples collected on the patient’s property. The finding suggested that changes “emerged in the patient after infection.”
Agatha Jassem, co-program head of the virology lab at the BCCDC Public Health Laboratory, said on Wednesday that the U.S. patient shared one of the three genetic mutations identified in the B.C. case, which could make it easier for the virus to spread from person to person. It was determined during the investigation into the Canadian case that the infection was likely connected to wild birds, not farmed poultry.
Provincial and federal officials continue to stress that the risk of avian flu to the general public remains low, despite widespread infections in domestic and wild birds, in addition to some mammals. More than 8.6 million birds in B.C. have been ordered destroyed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency since 2022.
There are currently 61 farms in the province with active infections – the most in any Canadian province or territory by a wide margin. There are infections on seven premises in Ontario, two in Alberta and one each in Manitoba, Quebec and Saskatchewan.
With reports from The Canadian Press