Washington state resident dies from bird flu following exposure to infected cattle — SkimNews
Get the Health newsletter
Daily health & science — research, biotech, public health, the studies worth knowing. Free.
- Yakima County officials said a resident with preexisting health conditions died Sunday after exposure to avian influenza at a dairy with infected cattle; the person had been hospitalized.
- CDC confirmed the fatal infection was H5N1, making the death the first U.S. bird-flu death in a year.
- Yakima County officials reported that 33 dairy herds recently tested positive for H5N1 and that three human infections were linked to exposure at a dairy.
- Yakima Health District is working with the state health department to identify and monitor close contacts of the three people whose infections were linked to dairy exposure.
- CDC reported more than 70 human infections in the U.S. since the beginning of 2024, with no known person-to-person spread and low risk to the general public.
- H5N1 showed no genetic changes that would make the virus spread more easily or cause more severe illness, according to CDC analysis.
- Washington state recorded the other recent U.S. death, from the rarer H5N5 strain, in November 2025; an elderly H5N1 death in Louisiana had been announced in January 2025.
Why it matters: The material concern is occupational rather than broad community transmission: CDC reports no known person-to-person spread, low risk to the general public and no genetic changes making H5N1 easier to spread or more severe. With 33 positive dairy herds and three linked human infections, Washington farm workers are the higher-risk group identified by officials.
Ask SkimNews
