09.01.2014

Canada announced yesterday the first H5N1 avian influenza death in North America, of a patient who had just returned from China.

The victim, who had recently returned from a trip to Beijing and had been otherwise completely healthy, was from the western plains province of Alberta. The victim, who was not identified, was admitted to an Alberta hospital on Jan 1 and died Jan 3. The victim was a woman in her late 20s of East Asian descent who worked in health care as a nurse at the Red Deer Regional Hospital.