The province's director of public health has confirmed that the second person in Quebec infected with the H1N1 flu virus is a child who recently returned from a family vacation to Mexico.

At a press conference Saturday afternoon, Alain Poirier said the young student attended school while displaying symptoms of the flu strain.

The child's case is considered mild.

Public health officials are now trying to contact all of the child's teachers, and the parents of the child's classmates, to warn them of possible infection.

The name of the school will not be revealed until all parents have been contacted.

Poirier said the school will remain open, and there is no reason for any school or employer to prevent people from coming in if they have recently been to Mexico -- unless they have flu-like symptoms.

"Restraining some workers or children just because they went to a place is not a good idea," said Poirier.

The first case of the H1N1 flu in Quebec was confirmed on Thursday. Public health officials would not confirm the age or gender of the patient, saying only that the person was from the Montreal area.

They also said they are continuing to monitor a number of other suspected cases.

Meanwhile, in the wake of the H1N1 flu outbreak, some legal experts are calling attention to possible violations of human rights.

Earlier this week, the English Montreal School Board sent a child home after he returned from a trip to Mexico with his parents - even though he showed no symptoms of the H1N1 flu.

"It worries me tremendously," said constitutional rights lawyer Julius Grey.

"It's just not scientifically rational to keep someone from school and take it on oneself to declare what is an emergency."

Dr. Timothy Brewer, an expert in infectious disease, said he agrees with Grey.

"In the absence of a clear exposure history to someone with influenza-like illness, I would not have kept this child out of school," said Brewer.

Number of confirmed cases across the country rises sharply

Canada now has 85 confirmed cases of H1N1 flu within its borders, after new cases were identified in B.C., Quebec, Alberta, Ontario and Nova Scotia.

There are now 22 confirmed cases of H1N1 virus in B.C., 31 in Nova Scotia, 14 in Ontario, 15 in Alberta, two in Quebec and one in New Brunswick.

All of the Canadians who have fallen ill from H1N1 -- previously known as swine flu -- have suffered only mild symptoms, and none have died as a result of the flu.

With files from CTV.ca News Staff