College students throughout B.C. return to highschool on Tuesday however the information {that a} teen is in hospital in Vancouver with a suspected case of H5 fowl flu has some individuals fearful.
Dr. Anna Wolak, a household doctor in Vancouver, mentioned many dad and mom are possible having flashbacks to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, regardless of this flu being a single case.
“So my main concern is the safety of our children,” she mentioned.
“As we go back to the crowded areas, to schools in general where children are packed in the classroom, what I am hoping is that over the summer and over the last few years of this, living with COVID, that the schools have updated their filtration, their purification and their ventilation systems.”
Wolak mentioned academics ought to nonetheless open home windows to ventilate the rooms and clear the air in crowded areas, serving to reduce children’ publicity to an airborne virus.
The teenager stays in B.C.’s Kids’s Hospital and well being officers are assuring the general public they’re working to determine how the affected person acquired the an infection and who else they could have contacted.
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{The teenager} possible caught the virus from a fowl or animal, the province mentioned in a press release over the weekend.
Wolak mentioned there are nonetheless different respiratory viruses going round and inspired dad and mom and caregivers to ensure everybody’s vaccines are updated.
“I don’t know that we need to be panicked,” she added. “But it’s always good to just be concerned, like staying home when you’re sick … vaccinating and then making sure that ventilation is adequate for children who are immunocompromised.”
H5 fowl flu is widespread in wild birds worldwide and is inflicting outbreaks in poultry and U.S. dairy cows, with a number of current human circumstances in U.S. dairy and poultry staff.
It’s an airborne virus and can’t be contracted from consuming eggs or hen.
Dr. Troy Bourque with the Canadian Meals Inspection Company informed International Information that avian flu has been in Canada since December 2021.
“We’re now currently in wave six of that response,” he mentioned.
“The wave six started in B.C. this year in October and so far has infected 24 farms in the Fraser Valley.”
Bourque mentioned 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 any further spread of it. In the domestic population, humans can be exposed to avian influenza from a sick or dead bird, whether that’s a domestic bird or wildlife bird. So those precautions should be taken when if you see a dead wild bird or any dead animal, actually and be careful doing that.”
Bourque mentioned each nation appears to be coping with fowl flu at the moment and everybody ought to take precautions, whether or not they work on or stay near a farm or not.
