The H5N1 avian flu arrived in North America when officials confirmed that a 20-year-old woman on a trip from Beijing died from the killer disease.

In a report by Calgary Herald, Dr. Gregory Taylor, deputy chief public health officer for Canada, confirmed that it's the only confirmed case of avian flu in North America.

Officials said the unnamed young woman and Alberta resident contacted the H5N1 avian flu variety, which is considered to be a killer disease after being responsible for 384 deaths of the total 648 infected individuals in 15 countries as of mid-December, said the World Health Organization.

 "The illness it causes in humans is severe and kills about 60 per cent of those who are infected. No other illnesses of this type have been identified in Canada since the traveller returned from China," Taylor added.

In the preliminary reports, the young woman began to feel sickly on December 27 while on board Air Canada Flight No. 030 from Beijing to Vancouver and then to Edmonton through Air Canada Flight 244.

The young woman was admitted to the hospital on January 1 with symptoms consistent with the flu. She died two days later from encephalitis, instead of the pneumonia associated with the H5N1 avian flu.

NBC News said that officials are tracing the itinerary of the victim after traveling to Beijing since only two cases of H5N1 avian flu were reported in China last year. The news site said that most of the cases were reported in Cambodia.

"H5N1 bird flu dominated the headlines for years, only to be driven off the front pages first by a pandemic of H1N1 swine flu in 2009, and then by the new H7N9 avian influenza last year and the MERS coronavirus in the Middle East," NBC said.

In its advisory, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said: "This is the first detected case of human infection with avian influenza A H5N1 virus in North or South America. It also is the first case of H5N1 infection ever imported by a traveler into a country where this virus is not present in poultry."