Canada confirms first human case, death in North America from influenza H5N1

The Public Health Agency of Canada has confirmed that a resident of Alberta has died of influenza A(H5N1).

The case is North America’s first human case of H5N1. The patient had recently returned from a trip to China, Canada Health Minister Rona Ambrose said in a media briefing.

“The risk of H5N1 to Canadians is very low as there is no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission,” Ambrose said. “Importantly, this is not part of the seasonal flu, which circulates in Canada every year. This is an isolated case.”

According to Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Gregory Taylor, MD, the patient began to feel unwell on a return flight from Beijing to Vancouver (Air Canada, flight 030), and then a flight from Vancouver to Edmonton (Air Canada, flight 244), on Dec. 27. The patient was hospitalized as symptoms worsened and died on Jan. 3. The Public Health Agency of Canada was notified of the case, and on Jan. 7, the national microbiology laboratory in Winnipeg confirmed that the patient had H5N1.

“The patient’s family is not showing any signs of illness and there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission in airplanes,” Taylor said. “All evidence is indicating that this is one isolated case in an individual who was infected following exposure in China.”

Taylor said there have been fewer than 650 human cases of H5N1 in 15 countries during the past decade, primarily in those who were exposed to infected birds. It causes severe illness in humans and kills about 60% of those who are infected.

Ambrose and Taylor said this is the first and only confirmed human case of H5N1 in North America, and there is no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission.