Health authorities in Washington State have confirmed that a man in the United States has been infected with the H5N5 subtype of bird flu, marking the first-ever human case of this strain.
According to the state’s Department of Health, the virus was detected in a man from Grays Harbor County after he was hospitalised earlier this month with flu-like symptoms. Until now, H5N5 had only been found in animals.
Officials released no additional details about the case but stressed that both state authorities and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) still assess the public risk as low.
The patient, an elderly man with existing health conditions, remains hospitalised and is receiving treatment. Authorities said he keeps domestic poultry that had contact with wild birds, which may have been a possible source of infection.
US media reported that this is the first human bird flu case in nine months. The CDC has recorded 71 human cases of bird flu in the country, although specific subtypes for each case are not always disclosed.
Avian influenza, or bird flu, is a highly infectious disease that is often fatal to birds and poultry. Since 2022, the world has been battling the largest recorded outbreak, predominantly involving the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain, which occasionally spreads to mammals and rarely to humans under high exposure conditions.
Germany’s Robert Koch Institute noted that no human H5N1 infections have been detected in the country.
