Bird flu kills Washington resident; 33 dairy herds infected

A Yakima County, Washington, resident died of bird flu on Nov. 1 after catching it at a dairy with infected cows, the Yakima Health District said. The county has confirmed 33 infected dairy herds since Oct. 8, according to state agriculture data on the district’s bird flu page.

It is the first H5N1 death in the U.S. this year and the third since the virus showed up in dairy cattle in 2024, CIDRAP reported Nov. 2.

The person had been in the hospital with severe illness and had underlying health conditions. The district did not release the person’s name, gender or age.

Three cases in one county

Yakima County now has 3 confirmed human cases. All 3 had contact with infected animals on dairy farms, according to the district.

The first case came on Oct. 15. That person stayed home and was not badly sick, the Washington State Department of Health said in an Oct. 26 alert.

The third case was announced with the death. That person has not been hospitalized or had severe illness. Health workers are tracking close contacts of the patients for symptoms.

“Avian influenza can cause severe illness, particularly among people who have underlying health conditions,” said Dr. Dave Atteberry, the district’s health officer, as quoted by CIDRAP. “While this is a serious and heartbreaking outcome, the risk to the general public remains low.”

How fast the herds got sick

Washington had never found this bird flu in dairy cattle before Oct. 8, when the state confirmed it at two Yakima County farms, the health department said. The state later found it at a farm in neighboring Benton County.

The county’s herd count climbed from 2 to 33 in three weeks. The biggest jump came on Oct. 23, when 17 herds were confirmed in one day, according to the state agriculture table.

Gene tests on virus from two Yakima County farms point to B3.13, the cattle strain that has spread among U.S. dairy cows since spring 2024, CIDRAP reported, citing state officials.

The outbreak is not limited to Washington. Colorado found H5N1 in a Weld County dairy’s milk tank, its first detection in routine milk testing since 2024, CIDRAP reported.

What it means for you

Health officials say the risk to the general public is low. Spread from person to person “has never been documented in the United States,” the Yakima Health District said.

The people most at risk are dairy and farm workers with close or long contact with sick animals or places the virus has contaminated. The district asks dairy workers who get sick after a possible exposure to call their doctor or the district at (509) 480-3770.

Pasteurization kills H5N1, so the risk from store milk is very low, Colorado’s state veterinarian said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention counted 72 reported human H5 bird flu cases in the U.S. since February 2024 as of its Oct. 15 update. CDC found 65 of them by monitoring people exposed to infected animals.

The state health department says the bigger flu threat this winter is regular seasonal flu. It recommends a flu shot for everyone 6 months and older.

What to watch

The Yakima Health District updates its human case count every Monday and Thursday at 2 p.m. Pacific time. The next numbers to watch are new herd confirmations and whether any case turns up without a farm link.