Canada's First Ever Case Of A Rare Flu Type Has Just Been Reported In Alberta

It's "typically acquired from exposure to infected pigs."
Canada's First Ever Case Of A Rare Flu Type Has Just Been Reported In Alberta
Tonny Anwar | Dreamstime
Contributor

On Wednesday, November 4, Canada's top doctor, Theresa Tam, issued a notice that a super rare flu type has been reported in Canada. 

The health official said that it's a variant of influenza A(H1N2)v and it's "typically acquired from exposure to infected pigs." 

Apparently, it's not normally known to spread between humans. 

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A confirmed case of variant Influenza A (H1N2)v has been detected in central Alberta. [...] This is the only influenza case reported in Alberta so far this flu season. Alberta Health 

The news release says that symptoms are flu-like and the patient in question only had mild effects. 

At this time, officials believe it hasn't spread further than this one individual. 

A public health investigation is currently underway "to determine the source of the virus and to verify that no spread occurred." 

“H1N2 is not a food-related illness. It is not transmissible to people through pork meat or other products that come from pigs and there is no risk associated with eating pork," the release continued. 

According to CTV News, this is Canada's first-ever case. 

CanadaNews
  • Britanny Burr
    Britanny Burr was a Staff Writer at Narcity Canada, who drove growth within Narcity's Western coverage and readership. Having lived between her hometown, Canmore, Alberta and Calgary, Montreal, Vancouver, and NYC over the past 10 years, she is obsessed with finding the best local hot spots. She holds a B.A. in English and has over six years of professional writing experience as Head Writer and Editor for YUL.Buzz in Montreal, and Creative Copywriter at JAKT in NYC. News by day, poetry by night — the written word is Britanny's nearest and dearest.

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