Canada's first severe case of swine flu was recorded Monday when a young Edmonton-area girl was taken to hospital, Alberta officials said, as other provinces reported a rise in infections.
The girl's age and name haven't been reported, and health authorities haven't released specifics about her symptoms.
"Up until now, we have been reporting that all confirmed cases in Canada have been relatively mild, and that all have made a full recovery. However, the news of this first severe case, although disconcerting, is not surprising, and it does not change the course of action that we're taking," Dr. David Butler-Jones, Canada's chief public health officer, said at a press conference.
"As we've been saying, our heightened surveillance will uncover more and more cases, with varying levels of severity. This case underscores a couple of things about influenza: it has few boundaries; it doesn't respect borders; it often doesn't respect age."
Alberta's top medical officer Dr. Andre Corriveau said authorities are still completing tests on the girl.
"She is currently under care and is doing well," said Corriveau.
Health authorities wouldn't say if the girl's case is potentially life-threatening.
"It is the first time that we have a case that requires hospitalization. All the other cases that we have had so far, which has been the pattern pretty much around the world outside of Mexico, (have been) mild and are recovering uneventfully," Corriveau added.
So far, there has been no connection to any Mexican travel in the girl's family, said Dr. Gerry Predy from Alberta Health Services.
Predy added there was no plan to close any schools in the province as a result of the new case.
The girl's illness was one of six new cases in the province, where the total is now at 24.
Meanwhile, British Columbia reported 10 new cases, Ontario's total number of infections nearly doubled to 31. Prince Edward Island reported its first two cases, New Brunswick confirmed one new case and Nova Scotia added five.
Nationwide, the toll is now 140.
Ontario's H1N1 cases are also now being reported outside the Greater Toronto Area.
However, the cases are all of the mild variety, Dr. John Williams, the province's acting medical officer of health, told a Monday news conference in Toronto.
Of the 31 cases, 25 directly track back to Mexico, he said.
There is one case where the virus was passed from an infected person to a close family member. In five other cases, the patient's history has yet to be determined, Williams said.
Virus 'not going away'
While the new severe case in Alberta needs to be taken seriously, an infectious disease specialist says it's "not a surprise."
"The virus has demonstrated how it can transmit out in a community, it's done that in Mexico. There's no reason that when it returns to other countries it eventually won't go out into the community," Dr. Donald Low with Toronto's Mount Sinai hospital told CTV Newsnet on Monday afternoon. "Unfortunately, this seems to suggest this has happened."
Low added that younger people seem to be more susceptible to this virus than older people. "They haven't got the immunity that older people have against influenza, and it was just a matter of time before we saw a (severe) case," he said.
Low pointed out that the term "severe" could mean a range of things.
"Hopefully, they're just being cautious by admitting this child to hospital to prescribe anti-viral drugs and antibiotics if they're needed, and we hope this child does well. But it's telling us this virus is not going away."
With files from The Canadian Press
