Public health investigation is closed, but officials haven’t provided patient updates. Canadian public health officials closed their investigation into the teenager who became critically ill with the H5N1 bird flu virus, with no source of infection identified.
It’s not clear whether the teenager recovered or was released from the hospital. Andy Watson, director of communications for the Office of the Provincial Health Officer in British Columbia, said in an email to MedPage Today that the office does not provide patient status updates due to privacy. The office “won’t be providing any updates on the status of the teenaged patient or this now complete investigation unless there is a need from a public health perspective to do so,” Watson said in the email.
During a press briefingopens in a new tab or window 2 weeks ago, Provincial Health Officer for British Columbia Bonnie Henry, MD, MPH, said the teenager remained in critical care at BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver. While the individual was stable, they were “still very sick.”