More info on fatal H5N1 case in Alberta needed: WHO
Posted January 9, 2014 5:32 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
EDMONTON (NEWS1130) – The World Health Organization has confirmed that North America’s first H5N1 patient was a woman in her late 20s.
The woman is believed to have contracted the infection in China, where she spent most of December in Beijing.
She was ill on her return to Canada on Dec. 27, was hospitalized on Jan. 1 and died on Jan. 3.
One of the WHO’s flu experts says the agency would like more information on her illness, because initial reports have suggested her symptoms were not entirely typical of H5N1 infections.
Dr. Nikki Shindo says the agency would like to know if there has been an autopsy or if one is planned.
Autopsies can yield a wealth of information about a disease but are not commonly done and are frowned on by some cultures.
