Bird flu case confirmed in B.C.

Photo: Contributed - cdc.gov

Canadian health authorities say they have have diagnosed a case of H7N9 bird flu in a British Columbia resident who recently returned from China.

This is the first time this particular type of bird flu has been found in North America.

The federal health minister says the infected person did not get sick enough to require hospitalization and is recovering.

Rona Ambrose says the risk to Canadians is low because this strain of bird flu does not transmit easily from person to person.

Nearly 500 human infections with this strain of bird flu have occurred since the virus first emerged in China in 2013 and about a third of those cases have died.