Only 27 cases of H1N2 have been reported worldwide since 2005. (Representative)
Montreal:
Canadian health authorities on Wednesday registered the country’s first case of a human being infected with the H1N2 virus, a rare strain of swine flu.
The case, found in the western province of Alberta in mid-October, appears to be isolated, local health officials said in a statement. “And there’s no risk in Albertans at this point.”
“This is the only flu case reported in Alberta so far this flu season,” the statement said.
It added that the anonymous patient experienced mild influenza-like symptoms, “tested and then recovered quickly. There is no evidence at this time that the virus has spread.”
Canadian health officials are looking for where the virus came from and to check if it has spread.
Only 27 cases of people infected with H1N2 have been reported worldwide since 2005 – not to be confused with the common H1N1 swine flu virus. There have been no cases in Canada before this.
Officials said the H1N2 strain is not a food-related disease and is not transmissible to humans from eating pork or other pork products.
The Fischer, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, wrote on Twitter that this is a rare type of flu in humans, usually caused by an infected pig and is not known to spread easily from person to person.
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