Bird flu kills Washington resident, strikes 47,000 chickens

A Yakima County resident exposed to dairy cattle infected with bird flu has died, while an outbreak at a Pierce County egg farm has affected 47,000 chickens, the first commercial poultry flock in Western Washington to be hit by the virus since the current outbreak began in 2022. The Yakima Health District reported that the resident died Nov. 1 of avian influenza. The person had been hospitalized and had an underlying health condition, according to the district. The district did not release the person’s name, age or gender, or details about how the person was exposed to infected cattle. The death was the third attributed to bird flu in the United States and the first involving someone exposed to the virus on a dairy farm. “While this is a serious and heartbreaking outcome, the risk to the general public remains low,” Yakima Health Officer Dave Atteberry said in a statement.

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