B.C. teen with Canada's first human case of avian flu no longer in ICU
CTV
The B.C. teenager who became infected with Canada's first human case of H5N1 avian influenza was transferred out of intensive care and taken off supplemental oxygen last month.
The B.C. teenager who became infected with Canada's first human case of H5N1 avian influenza was transferred out of intensive care and taken off supplemental oxygen last month.
While health officials have not provided any updates on the case since November, new details were published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, in a report signed by doctors from the Public Health Agency of Canada, the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, and B.C. Children's Hospital.
The patient – described as a 13-year-old girl with mild asthma – was initially taken to an undisclosed emergency department on Nov. 4 with a fever and conjunctivitis.
She was sent home without treatment, only to be brought back to hospital three days later in "respiratory distress," according to the case report. The teenager was then transferred to the ICU at B.C. Children's, suffering from pneumonia, acute kidney injury, thrombocytopenia, leukopenia and respiratory failure.
She remained in intensive care until Dec. 4, when she was transferred to the hospital's pediatric ward. By Dec. 18, she no longer required supplemental oxygen.
Provincial officials announced the child's infection on Nov. 9 – after the presence of the H5 influenza virus was confirmed through testing – and launched an investigation into how and where she acquired the disease.
The government did not share any personal details on the patient at that time, except that she is from B.C.'s Fraser Valley. The report published in the New England Journal of Medicine this week indicates both the patient and her family consented to releasing additional details on her case.
