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B.C. students are heading back to school on Tuesday, but news that a Vancouver teen is in hospital with a suspected case of H5 bird flu has some people concerned.
Dr. Anna Wolak, a family physician in Vancouver, said many parents are likely having flashbacks to the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, despite this flu being a single case.
“So my biggest concern is the safety of our children,” she said.
“As we go back to the crowded areas, to schools in general where kids are crowded together in the classroom, I hope that over the summer and the last few years of this, living with COVID, the schools have updated their guidelines. filtration, their purification and their ventilation systems.”
Wolak said teachers should still open windows to ventilate rooms and purify the air in crowded areas, minimizing children's exposure to an airborne virus.
The teen remains at BC Children's Hospital and health officials assure the public they are working to find out how the patient contracted the infection and who else they may have contacted.
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The teenager likely contracted the virus from a bird or animal, the province said in a statement this weekend.
Wolak said other respiratory viruses are still circulating and encouraged parents and caregivers to make sure everyone's vaccines are up to date.
“I don't know if we need to panic,” she added. “But it's always good to just be concerned, like staying home if you're sick … getting vaccinated and then making sure ventilation is adequate for children with weakened immune systems.”
H5 bird flu is widespread among wild birds worldwide, causing outbreaks in poultry and American dairy cows, with several recent human cases among American dairy farmers and poultry workers.
Human-to-human transmission is rare and, according to Health Canada, there is no evidence of long-term transmission between humans.
It is an airborne virus and cannot be contracted by eating eggs or chicken.
Dr. Troy Bourque of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency told Global News that bird flu has been prevalent in Canada since December 2021.
“We are currently in the sixth wave of that response,” he said.
“The sixth wave started in October this year in British Columbia and has infected 24 farms in the Fraser Valley to date.”
Bourque said about six million birds have been euthanized since December 2021.
“Our effort is to try to control that disease in the animal population to prevent its further spread. In domestic populations, people can be exposed to bird flu from a sick or dead bird, whether it is a domestic bird or a wild bird. So those precautions should be taken if you see a dead wild bird or other dead animal, and be careful when you do.”
Bourque said every country seems to be dealing with bird flu right now and everyone needs to take precautions, whether they work on a farm or live near one or not.
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Amy Judd
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