A Yakima County, Washington, resident has died of complications from bird flu, the first such death in the United States in a year, according to a report from PBS NewsHour. Officials say the risk to the public is low.
According to PBS NewsHour, the person died Sunday, according to county health officials. The outline for this story does not give an exact date of death.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the person was infected with H5N1, the bird flu strain. The person had previous health conditions, had been exposed to avian influenza at a dairy with infected cattle, and had been hospitalized, the report said.
A CDC spokesperson said Monday that the agency analyzed the virus from the person who died. It found no changes that would make the virus spread more easily or cause more severe illness, the spokesperson said.
The CDC says there is no known person-to-person spread and that the risk to the general public is low.
County officials reported that 33 dairy herds recently tested positive for H5N1. Three human infections have been linked to exposure at a dairy, according to the same county reports. These figures have not been independently confirmed by other sources.
Two other U.S. deaths have been tied to bird flu since the virus became a national public health concern in 2024. One was an elderly person in Louisiana in January 2025, infected with H5N1. The other was a Washington state death in November 2025, linked to the rarer H5N5 strain.
The CDC says more than 70 human bird flu infections have been reported in the United States since the beginning of 2024.
Officials urge people who handle sick or dead birds to take precautions. These include wearing respiratory and eye protection and gloves. Farm workers are considered to be at higher risk.
The Yakima Health District and the state health department are working to identify and monitor people who had close contact with the infected individuals, according to the report. Officials continue to urge precautions for anyone exposed to animals.
The account of this death rests on a single news report, and no second full news report has confirmed the details. Yakima County officials have not released further information about the person, such as age or sex. They have made no statement beyond what has been reported so far, and it is not known how many close contacts are being monitored or what contact tracing has found.
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This article was written with AI assistance from the published reporting listed above. It is part of the World Brief daily news podcast.