A person in Washington state has died from complications of the bird flu, the first such US death in a year, the AP reports. The Yakima County resident, who had previous health conditions, was exposed to avian influenza at a dairy with infected cattle and had been hospitalized. The person died Sunday, county health officials said. Two other US deaths have been tied to bird flu since it became a national public health concern in 2024. The first, announced in January 2025, was an elderly person in Louisiana who had a version of bird flu known as H5N1. The other, in Washington state, died in November 2025 from a rarer version called H5N5.
Yakima County officials did not release any additional details about the person who recently died. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the person was infected with H5N1. County officials have reported that 33 dairy herds recently have tested positive for H5N1. They say three human infections have been linked to exposure at a dairy, and that the Yakima Health District is working with the state health department to find people who were in close contact with those people and monitor them for symptoms.
The agency analyzed the genetic sequence of the virus from the person who died in Washington and found no changes that would make the virus spread more easily or cause more severe illness, a CDC spokesperson said Monday. There is no known person-to-person spread and the risk to the general public is low, the agency says.
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