Avian Influenza A(H7N9) Virus Infection in 2 Travelers Returning from China to Canada, January 2015

In January 2015, the first two human infections due to avian influenza A(H7N9) were detected in North America, reported among two travelers returning from China to British Columbia, Canada.

The patients presented with typical influenza-like illness. They were detected in the outpatient setting through a series of somewhat fortuitous events – notably the collection of a specimen by the health-care worker in response to travel history and the detection of a non-subtypeable influenza (despite high viral load) by the BC Public Health Microbiology and Reference Laboratory, that triggered further investigation.

There was no further spread but separate sero-survey showed broad population susceptibility to the novel H7N9 virus in British Columbia.

Case details, insights and lessons to be learned from these importations have recently been summarized in a Dispatch published last week in Emerging Infectious Diseases, available through open access e-publication, here: http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/22/1/15-1330_article