Canada reports rare strain of swine flu within a human
Canadian health authorities on Wednesday reported the country's first case of a human infected with the H1N2 virus, a rare strain of swine flu.
The case, detected in the western province of Alberta in mid-October, appears to be isolated "and there is no increased risk to Albertans at the moment," local health officials said in a statement.
"This is actually the only influenza case reported in Alberta up to now this flu season," the statement read.
It added that the unnamed patient experienced mild influenza-like symptoms, "was tested and quickly recovered. There is no evidence at the moment that the virus has spread further."
Canadian health officials want into where the virus came from, also to verify that it hasn't spread.
Since 2005 only 27 cases worldwide have already been reported of folks infected with the H1N2 -- never to be confused with the more prevalent H1N1 swine flu virus. There were no cases in Canada just before this one.
The H1N2 strain isn't a food-related illness in fact it is not transmissible to humans by eating pork or other pig products, officials said.
"This a rare kind of flu in humans, typically acquired from contact with infected pigs and not recognized to spread easily from human to human," Theresa Tam, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, wrote on Twitter. -- AFP
