A person in Washington state is believed to be the first known human to die from the rare H5N5 strain of bird flu, though health officials say the wider risk to the public remains low.
The patient, an older adult with underlying health conditions from Grays Harbor County, had been hospitalized since early November with symptoms including high fever, confusion and breathing difficulties. Health authorities said the individual kept a backyard poultry flock that had been exposed to wild birds.
The Washington State Department of Health confirmed that no other people connected to the case have tested positive. Officials said they are monitoring close contacts but found no evidence of human-to-human transmission.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention previously stated that the case did not indicate any increased risk to public health. Experts noted that H5N5 is not believed to pose a greater threat to humans than H5N1, the strain responsible for dozens of mostly mild infections in US farm workers over the past two years.
The main difference between H5N5 and H5N1 involves a viral protein that affects how the virus spreads between cells.
