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A hospitalized teen in British Columbia is likely Canada ’s first fount of H5 bird flu contracted within the country , official reportedSaturday ( Nov. 9 ) .
H5 bird flu virus are a broad chemical group of related virus that carry a protein phone hemagglutinin 5 . The group include H5N1 , the virus that has been discover inat least 46 peoplein the U.S. this year , mostly farmworkers .
A teen in Canada tested positive for an H5 virus, which causes a type of bird flu.
For now , H5N1 poses little menace to the general public , officials say , but emerging evidence suggests that the virus isevolving to be best at infecting mammals . What ’s more , the spread of seasonal flu may offer H5N1 a hazard toswap DNA with other flu virusesand potentially get better at infecting humankind or causing more - serious disease . With these concerns in nous , officials in both the U.S. and Canada are keeping an eye on the counterpane and organic evolution of bird flu .
Now , a adolescent from the Fraser Valley in southerly British Columbia has examine positive for an H5 virus . The presumptive positive test was performed by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control ’s Public Health Laboratory , and now , samples are being transport to the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg , Manitoba , to officially confirm the diagnosing . The U.S. has been using a similar process to confirm suspected fowl flu cases in the body politic .
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An probe is now underway to determine how the teen was exposed to the computer virus and whether any of their contacts were disclose or are present likely symptoms of bird flu . At the second , it ’s imagine that the probable source of the adolescent ’s unwellness was an infected bird or another fauna . The statement did not note whether the patient had recently been around farm animals .
To day of the month , there is n’t evidenceofH5 virusesspreading from one person to another .
" Our thoughts are with this vernal person and their house during this difficult time,“Dr . Bonnie Henry , British Columbia ’s provincial health officeholder , said in Saturday ’s argument . The statement does n’t note what form of symptoms the patient is live . Historically , human H5 infection have ranged from mild todeadly , although the rigour of the illness may vary with different virus stress .
" This is a rare event , " Henry tell . " While it is the first detected caseful of H5 in a somebody in B.C. or in Canada , there have been a little number of human cases in the U.S. and elsewhere , which is why we are conducting a thorough investigating to in full interpret the source of exposure here in B.C. " Canada hasreported one H5N1 casepreviously , in 2014 , but the infected person had caught the computer virus while traveling inChina .
No additional human cases of H5 have been notice in Canada . As the public wellness investigation progresses , the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is also working with various partners to respond to an uptick in H5N1 that ’s been affecting both farmed and wild doll in British Columbia since October . At least 22 outbreaks have been reported among poultry in the state since then .
For representative , in early November , a farm on British Columbia ’s Vancouver Islandlearned that its chicken and duckshad been debunk to bird flu . After reach authority , the farm ’s owners were teach to pick all 50 affected Bronx cheer .
Because H5N1 is very deadly and spreads very quickly in poultry , pluck the birds is the best room to block up the paste to additional flocks . U.S. farmers culled X of millions of birdswhen bird flu rive through fowl farmsacross the Carry Nation in 2022 .
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" In B.C. , H5N1 has been detected in wild hiss , on poultry farms and among minuscule wild mammals , including skunks and dodger , " the affirmation noted . However , unlike in the U.S. , " in B.C. and Canada , there have been no case reportedin dairy cattleand no grounds of avian flu insamples of milk . " H5N1 can linger in raw Milk River but is neutralise through the pasteurization process .
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