An individual in Washington state has preliminarily tested positive for H5N1 avian influenza, state health officials said yesterday. If confirmed, it will be the first human bird flu case in the United States since February.
In a news release, officials with the Washington State Department of Health said the case-patient is an older adult from Grays Harbor County with underlying health conditions. The person was hospitalized after developing a high fever, confusion, and respiratory distress in early November and continues to receive treatment.
Confirmatory testing from the Washington State Public Health Laboratories is pending, and state and county officials are working to determine the potential sources of infection.
The last US human bird flu case was reported on February 14 in Platte County, Wyoming. On February 12, health officials in Ohio reported that state’s first human H5N1 case. Both case patients were exposed through contact with infected poultry.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 70 human H5N1 cases, including one death, were confirmed in the United States from 2024 through July of this year, primarily in workers on poultry and dairy farms. The latter were sickened by an outbreak strain spreading in dairy cattle.
Person-to-person transmission of avian flu is rare and has never been documented in the United States.
“To ensure that human-to-human spread is not occurring, public health officials are contacting anyone who has been in close contact with the patient to monitor for symptoms and provide testing and treatment as needed,” Washington health officials said.
More commercial poultry outbreaks
Meanwhile, commercial poultry operations around the country continue to get hit with H5N1 outbreaks. In the latest update from the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Indiana has reported 14 new outbreaks, primarily in commercial duck meat and duck breeder operations in LaGrange County. Indiana is the leading duck producer in the country.
State health officials in Indiana say 41 commercial poultry farms with a total of 539,810 birds in the northern part of the state have been affected since October 9, Hoosier Ag Today reports.
Commercial turkey meat operations and backyard flocks in Michigan have also been hit by H5N1 outbreaks, along with backyard flocks in New Hampshire and Texas.
H5N1 detections are higher in the fall and spring, as wild birds spread the virus during their migration. Over the last 30 days, 76 confirmed flocks (38 commercial and 38 backyard) have been hit by H5N1 outbreaks, and 1.66 million birds have been affected, according to APHIS.
