A Washington state man has died from the rare H5N5 bird flu strain, marking what health officials believe is the first human fatality from this virus worldwide. State health officials announced the death on Friday, emphasizing that the risk to the public remains low.
The deceased was an older adult from Grays Harbor County, about 78 miles southwest of Seattle, who had underlying health conditions. Doctors hospitalized him in early November with a high fever, confusion, and severe breathing difficulties. He had contacted a backyard flock of domestic poultry that had contact with wild birds. Tests later confirmed avian influenza there.
This case represents the first human bird flu infection detected in the United States in at least eight months and the first recorded in Washington state this year.
The H5N5 strain differs from the more common H5N1 variant in a specific protein involved in the virus's release from infected cells.
H5N1 caused 70 reported human infections across the US in 2024 and 2025, mostly mild illnesses among dairy and poultry farm workers.
Public Health Response
State health officials stated: "The risk to the public remains low," and confirmed: "No other people involved have tested positive for avian influenza." Authorities are monitoring close contacts of the deceased man but emphasized "there is no evidence of transmission of this virus between people."
Expert Perspectives
Dr. Beth Lipton, the state's public health veterinarian, clarified: "[H5N5] is not a new strain or completely new virus. It is just the first time we know of that it has infected a person."
Dr. Angela Rasmussen, a virologist in Canada, expressed concern about the virus's evolution: "It's not H5N1, it's H5N5, but that isn't a relief to me. It's a reassortment [genetic mixing] that put someone in the hospital. This is unpredictable. I hope epidemiologists are investigating to assess who else might have been exposed, so appropriate outbreak investigation and control can be applied."
Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious diseases expert in Tennessee, told Newsweek: "Infection with H5N5 bird flu virus likely is a rare one-off event that does not have widespread implications for the general public."
Since the bird flu outbreak began in January 2022, 71 people have been infected in the US, with one previous death in Louisiana. The virus has affected an estimated 174 million wild and domestic birds and infected over 1,000 dairy herds nationwide.
Note: AI created this article.
