B.C. coroner investigating death of 2-year-old from suspected disease

The B.C. Coroners Service is investigating after a two-year-old child from Chetwynd, B.C. died of a suspected disease only hours after arriving at B.C. Children's Hospital in Vancouver on Saturday.

The child was admitted to hospital in Chetwynd in the early hours of Jan. 7, and died later that evening in Vancouver.

"The B.C. Coroners Service is in the early stages of their investigation and all indications are of death due to a disease process," said northern regional coroner Donita Kuzma in a news release.

The Coroners Service is not saying which disease is suspected.

"The public will be informed if there is any risk to public health or safety," the news release states.

Two days after the child died, Northern Health issued a statement about common respiratory illnesses circulating in northeastern B.C., including influenza and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV).

The release specifically mentioned Chetwynd, and the district is seeing an increase in visits to its primary care clinic due to "this increase in respiratory illness in the community,"

The advisory did not mention the child's death.

"We would like to offer assurances that complications and death due to influenza and influenza-like illnesses are rare in children who have no underlying medical conditions. It may happen, but it is rare," said medical health officer Dr. Rainea Fumerton in the release.

With files from George Baker