Washington resident has been infected with a different type of bird flu

A Washington state resident has bird flu, and it’s a different type than what was seen in previous infections, state health officials said Friday.
It is the nation’s first human case of bird flu since February. The older adult with underlying health conditions remains hospitalized.
State health officials had announced the preliminary bird flu diagnosis on Thursday. On Friday, they said it had been confirmed.
The person was infected with a bird flu called H5N5, state officials said. State and federal health officials said it appears to be the first known human infection with the H5N5 bird flu virus.
That version is not believed to be a greater threat to human health than the H5N1 virus behind a wave of 70 reported human infections in the U.S. in 2024 and 2025. Most of those have been mild illnesses in workers on dairy and poultry farms.
“These viruses behave similarly,” said Richard Webby, a prominent flu researcher at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. “My gut instinct is to consider it the same as H5N1 from a human health perspective.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday issued a similar statement that said no information would suggest “the risk to public health has increased as a result of this case.”