A resident of Yakima County in Washington state has died from complications of bird flu after being exposed to infected cattle at a dairy, county health officials have announced. The person died on Sunday, 1 November, after being hospitalised with a severe illness. It is the first death from the virus in the United States this year.
The individual, who had underlying health conditions, was exposed to avian influenza at a dairy where cattle were infected, the Yakima Health District said. Out of respect for the family, officials have not released the person’s name, age or gender, or further details of the case.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the infection was H5N1, the strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza that has spread widely among wild birds and poultry and, since early 2024, dairy cattle. The agency said genetic sequencing of the virus from the patient found no changes that would make it spread more easily between people or cause more severe illness.
The death is only the third in the United States since the virus became a national public health concern in 2024. The first, announced in January 2025, was an elderly person in Louisiana infected with H5N1; the second, in November 2025, was another Washington resident infected with the rarer H5N5 strain.
More than 70 human infections have been recorded in the US since the start of 2024, according to the CDC, almost all among people exposed to infected animals. No human-to-human transmission of bird flu has ever been documented in the country, and health officials stress the risk to the general public remains low.
The Yakima case is the third human infection identified in the county this year. A dairy worker tested positive with a mild illness on 15 October, the first human case reported in nearly a year, and a third case was confirmed over the weekend. Health officials are monitoring the contacts of the person who died for symptoms.
The outbreak among cattle in the region was detected in early October through milk testing by the Washington State Department of Agriculture and the US Department of Agriculture. Since 8 October, 33 dairy herds in Yakima County and one in neighbouring Benton County have tested positive for H5N1.
Note: the featured image is a colourised electron micrograph of H5N1 virus particles, not a photograph of the patient or the dairy involved.
Sources: Associated Press, “Washington state resident dies from bird flu following exposure to infected cattle”, 2 November 2026, https://www.ottumwacourier.com/news/national_news/washington-state-resident-dies-from-bird-flu-following-exposure-to-infected-cattle/article_7c86d7c1-a4d9-5c17-b39c-203904e15448.html ; CNN, “Washington reports first US bird flu death of 2026”, 2 November 2026, https://www.cnn.com/2026/11/02/health/bird-flu-death-2026 ; STAT, “Bird flu: Washington state resident dies after exposure to infected cattle”, 2 November 2026, https://www.statnews.com/2026/11/02/bird-flu-washington-state-resident-dies-infected-cattle-exposure/
