CANADA'S FIRST HUMAN BIRD FLU CASE: A critically ill teen

🚨🇨🇦 CANADA'S FIRST HUMAN BIRD FLU CASE: A critically ill teen

Canada's first human incidence of avian influenza has left a previously healthy teen in British Columbia battling for their life.

The patient's condition worsened "quite rapidly" after it began on November 2nd with fever, coughing, and eye inflammation.

Although the source of the infection is still unknown, health experts think it's the severe H5N1 type.

The teen interacted with family pets but had no exposure to farms.

This occurrence occurs as bird flu spreads through U.S. dairy farms, with 46 human cases documented since April, despite officials stressing that the danger of human transmission is still minimal.

Bonnie Henry, BC's top physician, cautions that this instance demonstrates how the virus can cause serious illness even in young, healthy people.

Authorities are closely 36 contacts are being monitored, but no new instances have been discovered as of yet.

The increasing prevalence of bird flu in North America, which already affects 450 dairy farms in 15 states, has scientists worried about the possibility of a pandemic if the virus develops the ability to transmit easily between people.

Sources: VOANews and Reuters

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