January 08, 2014 - 4:53 PM
VICTORIA - British Columbia's provincial health officer says the Alberta resident who died of bird flu was at Vancouver International Airport for several hours last month, but the chance of spreading the H5N1 virus to passengers or airport visitors is rare.
Dr. Perry Kendall says the Albertan spent about two and a half hours at the airport on Dec. 27 waiting for a connection to Edmonton after a flight from Beijing.
He says there is minimal risk to people aboard the Beijing-to-Vancouver flight or others in the airport waiting area and no other cases of H5N1 have been reported in B.C. since then.
Federal public health officials say the bird-flu death is the first such case in North America.
Health Minister Rona Ambrose also says the death was an isolated case and that the risk to the general public is small.
Health officials say the victim travelled to China last month and was hospitalized on Jan. 1 in Edmonton, but died two days later.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2014