Health officials urge vigilance with discovery of Canada’s first presumptive avian flu case in B.C. teen

Public-health officials in British Columbia declined to provide any new details Monday about their investigation into how a teen caught bird flu in the province, but experts said the first known case of a human acquiring H5 influenza in Canada should prompt increased vigilance against the potentially lethal virus.Provincial Health Officer Bonnie Henry announced in a statement Saturday that a presumptive case of H5 influenza has been identified in a teen living in the Fraser Valley. No information has been released about the teen’s age or condition, beyond the fact that he or she is being treated at B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver.The Saturday statement said the source of the virus is “very likely to be an animal or bird,” and that no other human cases have been identified.