Washington State Resident Dies of Bird Flu — First H5N1 Death in the US in 2026
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A resident of Yakima County, Washington, died after contracting H5N1 bird flu through exposure to infected dairy cattle, becoming the first bird flu fatality in the United States in 2026 and the third since February 2024.
Health officials in Yakima County, Washington, confirmed on 1 November 2026 that a local resident had died after being hospitalised with a severe H5N1 avian influenza infection contracted through contact with infected dairy cattle. The person had underlying health conditions, though authorities did not specify what they were. The death is the first H5N1 fatality in the United States in 2026 and the third since February 2024, when the virus first jumped into dairy cattle. Two additional bird flu cases have been identified in Yakima County this year: a mild case reported in mid-October and a third case reported over the weekend, both linked to exposure to infected cows. At least 33 dairy herds in Washington state have reported H5N1 infections since 8 October. State health officials have reported all three human cases to the CDC, though the agency had not yet added them to its bird flu dashboard. Yakima County health officials said they are closely monitoring the contacts of the person who died to ensure the infection was not passed on to anyone else. Despite the fatality, officials emphasised that no human-to-human transmission of bird flu has been documented in the United States and that the risk to the general public remains low.
