B.C. teen discharged from hospital after contracting bird flu in November
Posted January 9, 2025 2:42 pm.
After spending months in the pediatric intensive care unit, the B.C. teen who was Canada’s first human case of avian influenza is out of hospital and recovering.
Last week, a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine from multiple doctors and researchers at the BC Children’s Hospital, the BC Centre for Disease Control, and the Public Health Agency of Canada announced that the 13-year-old girl was no longer requiring supplemental oxygen and had been transferred out of an intensive care unit.
In an update Thursday, the Provincial Health Services Authority shared that the teen had been fully discharged from hospital on Tuesday.
The health authority’s notice also included a statement from the patient’s family, thanking the teams at BC Children’s Hospital for their care and support over the past two months.
“This has been a life changing experience for our daughter and for our family, and we are grateful to have her home with us. We thank everyone for their concern and wishes for our daughter and our family throughout this ordeal. Respectfully, we ask for privacy as she continues to heal and we rebuild our lives after this traumatic experience,” the statement said.
The family says they will not be available to provide more information to media.
—With files from Charlie Carey
