WA records first bird flu death of 2026

A Yakima County resident has become the first person in Washington state, and perhaps the country, to die from bird flu this year, following an exposure at a dairy farm last month.

The person had been hospitalized with severe symptoms from avian influenza after coming into contact with infected cattle, according to the county public health department. They died Sunday, the Yakima Health District said in a statement.

The health department said the resident had underlying health conditions, but declined to share further details, including their age or gender.

The risk of spread among the general public remains low, county health officer Dr. Dave Atteberry wrote in the statement.

Commercial pasteurized milk, cooked meat and dairy products are still safe to eat, the state agriculture department says.

“Our hearts go out to the individual’s family and loved ones during this difficult time,” Atteberry wrote. “We continue to work closely with our public health partners to monitor the situation and protect the health of our community.”

A spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday did not respond to confirm the Yakima County case was the first bird flu death in the country this year. As of Oct. 15, the agency had not listed any bird flu deaths in 2026 on its website.

“CDC is saddened to hear of the death of a person in Washington state who was infected with avian influenza A(H5N1),” spokesperson Emily Hilliard wrote in a statement Monday. “This case does not change CDC’s public health risk assessment from A(H5) viruses, which continues to be low.”

Two other Yakima County residents have also tested positive for avian flu in the past three weeks after being exposed at the dairy farms, the health district said. Neither has been hospitalized.

As of Monday, the three Yakima County cases were the only instances of avian flu in humans reported in Washington this year.

The infected Yakima County cows are some of the first cattle in Washington to test positive for the virus since the start of the current bird flu outbreak in 2022, according to the health department.

Over the past four years, the virus has persisted mostly among commercial, backyard and wild birds. In Washington, the contagious disease had made its way into at least four commercial and 67 backyard flocks as of late September, wiping out more than 4.1 million birds, according to the state Department of Agriculture.

In 2024, a different strain of bird flu, known as B3.13, began circulating among dairy cows in some states. Since then, dairy cattle in 19 states have been infected with bird flu, the Yakima Health District said.

The B3.13 strain had not been detected in Washington herds until last month, when state lab tests found the virus at two dairy farms in Yakima County.

While the discovery may raise questions about how bird flu affects cattle in Washington and the spread of the virus in general, the state agriculture department said most infected cows recover with veterinary care.

Recovery for cows typically takes about six weeks, though the severity of illness varies among herds. Death is uncommon in infected dairy cows, the state said.

The last Washingtonian to die from avian flu was a Grays County resident, an older adult with underlying health conditions who died last November. They had a mixed backyard flock of domestic poultry at home that was exposed to wild birds, health officials said then, and tested positive for H5N5, a type of bird flu never before detected in humans.

The Grays County resident was one of two people in the U.S. to die from bird flu last year. The other was an older Louisiana resident, also with underlying health conditions and who was exposed to a mix of backyard flock and wild birds.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, is a disease caused by influenza type A viruses, which naturally occur in wild aquatic birds globally, according to the state Department of Health. The viruses can infect other birds, and occasionally mammals, and can be deadly to domestic birds like chickens and turkeys.

Bird flu rarely infects people and makes them sick; if it does, those with infections typically experience mild symptoms, health officials said. Most cases in people have occurred after they were exposed to sick or infected animals.

Person-to-person transmission has not been documented in the U.S.

Public health officials say people who work with or have recreational contact with infected birds or cattle are at higher risk, and should wear personal protective equipment, including gloves, masks, eye protection and other outerwear, when interacting with animals. 

People with backyard flocks should also avoid contact with any sick or dead birds, and report illness to the Washington State Department of Agriculture by calling 800-606-3056 or reporting online. Any sick or dead wildlife should be reported to the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife.

Health officials have also encouraged people to avoid eating raw or undercooked food, including raw milk, and to make sure they don’t feed those products to pets.