Healthy teenager fights for life in hospital after catching bird flu from 'unknown source' in Canada By CONNOR BOYD HEALTH AND SCIENCE EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM Published: 21:58, 12 November 2024 | Updated: 22:11, 12 November 2024 e-mail 69 shares 33 View comments A 'healthy' teenager is in critical condition after catching bird flu in Canada . And in a potentially alarming development, health officials say it's not clear how they became infected.
Health officials are still identifying the strain, but the patient is assumed to have H5N1, the virus that has infected dozens of Americans this year. Almost all of the US cases were farm workers with direct contact with infected cattle or birds - but the case in Canada is different. The teen had not visited farms but had been exposed to dogs, cats and reptiles, according to provincial health officer Bonnie Henry.
'That is absolutely an ongoing investigation,' said Henry. The patient, who has not been identified, is currently being treated in a children's hospital in British Columbia. Henry said: 'This was a healthy teenager prior to this, so no underlying conditions.
PINK EYE: The H5N1 virus causes eye inflammation, as seen in a dairy farmer in Texas who caught bird flu earlier this year Your browser does not support iframes. 'It just reminds us that in young people this is a virus that can progress and cause quite severe illness and the deterioration that I mentioned was quite rapid.' The teen who is Canada's first bird flu victim .