Washington state man believed to be the first to die from a rare strain of bird flu
GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY, Washington — A Washington state man is believed to be the first person to die from a rare strain of bird flu, but state health officials said Friday the risk to the public is low.
The man, an older adult with underlying health conditions, was being treated for a bird flu called H5N5 after apparently becoming the first known human infected with the strain, according to a statement from the Washington State Department of Health.
The man in Grays Harbor County, about 75 miles (125 kilometers) southwest of Seattle, had a flock of domestic poultry that had been exposed to wild birds, health officials said.
“The risk to the public remains low,” public health officials said in a statement. “No other person involved has tested positive for bird flu.”
Health officials said they would monitor anyone who had close contact with the man, but “there is no evidence of transmission of this virus between people.”
Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a statement on the infection that said there was no information to suggest that “the risk to public health has increased as a result of this case.”
H5N5 does not appear to pose a greater threat to human health than the H5N1 virus, which caused a wave of 70 human infections reported in the United States in 2024 and 2025. Most of these were mild illnesses among workers on dairy and poultry farms.
The distinction between H5N5 and H5N1 lies in a protein involved in releasing the virus from an infected cell and promoting its spread to surrounding cells.
