The Washington State Department of Health issued a bulletin stating that a resident of the state who contracted the H5N5 avian influenza virus died on the 21st.
This is the first reported case globally of a human infection with this avian influenza strain.
The elderly patient, who had underlying health conditions, had been hospitalized since early November. For privacy reasons, health officials did not disclose further information about the patient. Testing by the Clinical Virology Laboratory at the University of Washington School of Medicine showed the patient was infected with the H5N5 avian influenza virus. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed this result.
Investigations revealed the patient had been raising various types of poultry in their backyard. The Washington State Department of Health detected avian influenza virus in the backyard poultry environment, and believes the most likely route of infection was contact with domestic poultry, the rearing environment, or wild birds.
The Washington State Department of Health said the risk to the general public remains low. All those who had contact with the patient tested negative, and there is no evidence that the virus is capable of human-to-human transmission. Public health agencies will continue to monitor the health of close contacts.
H5-type avian influenza is widely spread among wild birds worldwide and has caused outbreaks in poultry and dairy cattle. Globally, the predominant H5 avian influenza virus infecting humans has been the H5N1 subtype, and this case marks the first known H5N5 human infection.