Canada's National Lab Confirms H5N1 in Hospitalized Teen

By Lisa Schnirring

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) today announced that the National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg has confirmed that the H5 avian flu detected in a British Columbia (BC) teen is the H5N1 virus.

Yesterday BC health officials said the previously healthy teen is hospitalized in critical condition. Today's confirmation marks Canada's first locally acquired H5N1 infection.

Genetic sequencing suggests that the H5N1 virus is closely related to those circulating in BC poultry, meaning that it belongs to the 2.3.4.4b clade and to the D.1.1 genotype. Western Canada and a handful of western US states have seen an uptick in poultry outbreaks related to spread of the virus from birds migrating south along the Pacific flyway. The genotype is different from the B3.13 virus that has infected US dairy cattle.

So far, no other human infections have been detected in Canada, and investigations are still under way to determine how the teen was exposed to the virus.

Theresa Tam, MBBS, Canada's chief public health officer, said, health officials' thoughts are with the patient, the family, and hospital caregivers. "This detection was picked up via hospital-based influenza surveillance, confirming that human influenza surveillance in British Columbia and Canada is effective at detecting avian influenza A(H5). We must continue to remain vigilant in our efforts to prevent the spread of avian influenza between animals and to humans."

Virus hits more US poultry farms

In other H5N1 developments, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed five more H5N1 outbreaks on poultry farms, including a massive layer farm in California's Kern County that has more than 2 million birds.

Two other outbreaks in California involve a large broiler facility in Fresno County that houses 237,000 birds and a turkey breeder farm in the same county that has nearly 37,000 birds.

Also, APHIS confirmed the virus at a poultry farm in Montana's Missoula County, as well as on a turkey farm in Utah's Piute County.