The 13-year-old B.C. girl who became North America’s first critical pediatric patient with avian influenza has been discharged from hospital, health officials said Thursday.
The Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) said the teen was discharged from BC Children’s Hospital on Jan. 7.
“This has been a life-changing experience for our daughter and for our family, and we are grateful to have her home with us,” the family said in a statement released by PHSA.
“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.”
PHSA added the information was released with the family’s consent, and only because of the global interest in the case.
An extensive public health investigation was unable to determine how the girl first contracted the virus.
A case summary published in the New England Journal of Medicine late last month offered a terrifying snapshot of how quickly the girl’s symptoms progressed, to the point where she was placed on a ventilator and ECMO heart and lung machine.
The teen first presented to hospital on Nov. 4 with a fever and conjunctivitis in both eyes, but was discharged without treatment.
She returned to the ER on Nov. 7 with symptoms including a cough, vomiting and diarrhea, and was transferred to BC Children’s Hospital the next day with rapidly worsening symptoms including respiratory failure, pneumonia and acute kidney injury.
She was intubated for nearly two weeks, and only removed from supplemental oxygen on Dec. 18.
In the journal case summary, doctors also noted genetic sequencing of the virus revealed “worrisome” mutations that could increase binding to human airway receptors.
B.C. health officials say testing revealed the virus was the H5N1 Clade B.2.3.4.4B, and Genotype D1.1, the same clade and genotype detected in wild birds in B.C., as well as in outbreaks at poultry farms in the province.