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A Washington state man is believed to be the primary individual to die from a uncommon kind of hen flu, however state well being officers say the chance to the general public is low.
The person, an aged man with underlying well being circumstances, was being handled after changing into the primary human to develop into contaminated with the avian influenza pressure, referred to as H5N5, the Washington State Division of Well being mentioned in a press release on Friday (Nov. 22, 2025).
“The person, from Grays Harbor County, about 80 miles southwest of Seattle, had his yard flock of poultry uncovered to wild birds,” well being officers mentioned.
“The chance to the general public stays low,” state well being officers mentioned in a press release. “No different individual concerned has examined optimistic for avian influenza.” Well being officers mentioned they’d monitor individuals who had shut contact with the person, however “there isn’t a proof that the virus was transmitted in people.”
Earlier this month, the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention issued a press release concerning the an infection, saying there was no data to counsel “an elevated threat to public well being on account of this case.”
Behind the wave of 70 human infections reported in america in 2024 and 2025, the H5N5 virus is considered a much less important risk to human well being than the H5N1 virus. Most of them had been delicate diseases amongst employees at dairy farms and poultry farms.
The distinction between H5N5 and H5N1 lies within the proteins concerned in selling the discharge of the virus from contaminated cells and its unfold to surrounding cells.
