A colorized transmission electron microscope image of Avian influenza H5N1 viruses, which appear in gold. (CDC/ Courtesy of Cynthia Goldsmith)
Farmers Forum staff
OTTAWA — Agriculture has not been implicated in Canada’s first human case of H5N1 avian flu since 2014.
The British Columbia teenager was admitted to hospital on Nov. 8 after catching the virus without apparent connection to farming or contact with birds, according to media reports. The case is the first in North America involving “severe” respiratory symptoms in a human, and as of late November, the infected teen remained in hospital in critical but stable condition.
The British Medical Journal reported Nov. 14 that the teen may have been infected with a new “genotype” of the virus that has evolved to more easily transmit to people.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has counted 57 infected people south of the border since H5N1 reemerged in native waterfowl in late 2021 and began spreading into North American chicken and turkey flocks. All but two of the 57 American cases involved farm workers, split 30-21 between the dairy and poultry sectors.
The authorities in the U.S. and Canada have taken a sterilizing approach with infected poultry, ordering the destruction of millions of birds since the avian flu outbreak began. The toll stands at over 108 million culled poultry in the U.S. and nearly 12 million in Canada. British Columbia has most recently made headlines with 28 poultry-farm outbreaks since the beginning of October. Ontario hasn’t had an infected poultry operation since last January in Amherstburg.
A tiny percentage of American dairy herds — 742 to date — also got infected this year, while Canadian herds have so far remained clear of the virus. Most cattle recover, but there have been reports of some affected farmers culling a small minority of their cows that take too long to recover or pick up secondary infections.
Health authorities are concerned about avian flu because of its potentially high fatality rate in humans, although infected agricultural workers in the U.S. overwhelmingly bucked that trend: All recovered with mild symptoms. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control still estimates a 60 % death rate from the virus, based on previous outbreaks in Asia between the late 1990s and early 2010s.
