'She's quite strong': B.C. teen spends Christmas in hospital after nearly dying from avian flu

A young teen is currently in BC Children’s Hospital, where she spent Christmas after narrowly surviving North America’s first critical case of H5N1 bird flu.

The 13-year-old girl first went to hospital in early November with a fever and pink eye in both eyes, before deteriorating and being put on multiple anti-viral drugs and life-support systems. Many of the details were made public in a prominent medical journal on Tuesday, and are now being closely scrutinized by medical professionals across the continent. 

One of the doctors who treated her said while the girl had mild asthma and is overweight, she was otherwise healthy before her infection, and she’s doing well now that she’s been out of the intensive care unit for several weeks.

“She’s no longer needing oxygen support or other respiratory support, not needing renal kidney support, so she has recovered from the critical illness, but anytime somebody is that sick in the ICU for that long, the road to recovery is generally a longer road,” said Dr. David Goldfarb. “She’s quite strong and was able to survive this very severe illness.”

He points out that the H5N1 strain has been around for decades, and in that time there’s been numerous children sickened, with nearly half the severe cases ending in death.

Goldfarb says while the current flu shot doesn’t include H5N1 protection, it’s still worth getting since it can protect against other types of influenza and avoid a double-whammy infection. He also encourages anyone with flu-like symptoms who’s been in contact with sick or dead animals to let their health-care provider know if they need medical attention.