GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY, WA. — A Washington state man is believed to be the first person to die from rare strain of bird flubut state health officials said Friday the risk to the public is low.
The man, an elderly person with underlying health conditions, was being treated for a bird flu called H5N5 after becoming what appears to be the first known person infected with the strain, according to a statement from the Washington State Department of Health.
The man in Grays Harbor County, about 78 miles (125 kilometers) southwest of Seattle, had a flock of poultry in his backyard that had been exposed to wild birds, health officials said.
“The risk to the public remains low,” state health officials said in a statement. “None of the people involved tested positive for bird flu.”
Health officials said they would monitor anyone who came into close contact with the person, 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 about the infection, saying no information suggests “the public health risk has increased as a result of this case.”
H5N5 is not believed to pose a greater threat to human health than the H5N1 virus, which caused a wave of 70 reported human cases in the United States in 2024 and 2025. Most of them were mild illnesses in dairy and poultry workers.
The difference between H5N5 and H5N1 is a protein that is involved in the release of the virus from an infected cell and helps it spread to surrounding cells.
