A “healthy” teenager is in critical condition after contracting bird flu in Canada.
And in a potentially alarming development, health officials say it is unclear how they became infected.
The patient, who has not been identified, is currently being treated at a children’s hospital in British Columbia.
“Prior to this he was a healthy teenager, so there were no underlying conditions,” said provincial health officer Bonnie Henry.
“It just reminds us that in young people this is a virus that can progress and cause quite serious illness and the deterioration that I mentioned was quite rapid.”
The teenager began suffering from fever, cough and conjunctivitis on November 2 and was admitted to the hospital on November 8.
They have deteriorated since then and the patient now suffers from severe lung damage that makes it difficult for oxygen to circulate through the body.
Health officials are still identifying the exact strain, but the patient is presumed to have H5N1, the virus that has infected dozens of Americans this year.
RED EYE: The H5N1 virus causes eye inflammation, as seen in a Texas dairy farmer who contracted bird flu earlier this year.
The Canadian teenager was not exposed to farms, but was exposed to dogs, cats and reptiles.
No source of infection had been identified. “That is absolutely an ongoing investigation,” Henry said.
The World Health Organization says the risk of H5N1 to humans is low because there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission.
But the virus has been found in an increasing number of animals, including hundreds of livestock farms in the United States.
In Canada, British Columbia has identified at least 26 affected facilities across the province and numerous wild birds have tested positive.
Canada has not reported any cases in dairy cattle or evidence of avian flu in milk samples.