The first fatal case of the rare H5N5 strain of bird flu has been recorded in the US. The deceased had comorbidities and had contact with poultry.
In the US, a resident of Washington state is believed to be the first person to die from a rare strain of bird flu, UNN reports, citing AP.
Details
The infected individual, an elderly person with underlying health conditions, was being treated for H5N5 bird flu and appears to be the first known human to contract this strain, according to a statement from the Washington State Department of Health.
The resident of Grays Harbor County, located about 125 kilometers southwest of Seattle, had a backyard flock of domestic poultry that had contact with wild birds, health officials said.
"The risk to the public remains low," the state health officials' statement said. "None of the other affected individuals tested positive for bird flu."
Health officials said they would monitor anyone who had contact with the infected person, but "there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission of this virus."
Addition
Earlier this month, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a statement about the infection, saying there was no information to indicate "an increasing public health risk as a result of this case."
The H5N5 virus is not believed to pose a greater threat to human health than the H5N1 virus, which caused a wave of 70 reported human infections in the US in 2024 and 2025. Most of these were mild forms of the disease in dairy and poultry farm workers.
The difference between H5N5 and H5N1 lies in a protein involved in the release of the virus from an infected cell and its spread to surrounding cells.
