Yakima County resident dies of bird flu after exposure at dairy with infected cattle, health district says

A Yakima County, Washington, resident hospitalized with severe illness from avian influenza after exposure at a dairy with infected cattle died of complications on Sunday, Nov. 1, the Yakima Health District said in a release dated that day. The district said the person had underlying health conditions and that, citing the family's privacy, it is withholding the person's name, gender and age.¹

The release also reported a third human case in the county, a resident exposed to infected dairy cattle who has not been severely ill or hospitalized. Health Officer Dr. Dave Atteberry said “the risk to the general public remains low.” The district said the greater risk falls on dairy workers and others with close or extended contact with infected animals, and that officials are working to find close contacts and watch them for symptoms.¹

The release does not name a subtype. The Associated Press, in a report carried by PBS NewsHour, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified the infection as H5N1 and that its genetic analysis showed no changes pointing to wider spread or more serious disease.²

The Yakima cases

The district reported the county's first human case on Oct. 15, a resident who was not severely ill or hospitalized.³ It reported a second on Oct. 31, a resident hospitalized with severe illness.⁴ The state health department's data page lists three confirmed human cases with dairy exposure in 2026; it states no as-of date and does not mention deaths.⁵

The national count

The Associated Press listed two earlier U.S. deaths linked to the virus since 2024, a Louisiana death announced in January 2025 and a Washington state death from H5N5 in November 2025, and said the new one is the first in a year.² Newsweek called it the third since 2024.⁶ A CDC report described that earlier Washington patient as a backyard flock owner in Grays Harbor County.⁷

The CDC's situation summary, updated Oct. 15, lists 72 total reported human cases of A(H5) bird flu in the United States since February 2024. It calls the current public health risk low and does not mention deaths.⁸

Infected herds

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Oct. 8 that it had confirmed highly pathogenic avian influenza in two Washington dairy herds, the state's first detections in livestock, and said dairy cattle in 19 states had been infected since March 2024.⁹ The Yakima district said 33 county dairy herds had tested positive for H5N1 as of Oct. 29.⁴ A state health alert dated Oct. 26 noted one farm in Benton County.¹⁰ Newsweek, citing the state agriculture department's tracker, put the count through Oct. 30 at 39 herds in Yakima County and one in Benton County.⁶

What the records do not show

• The patient's identity, job or dairy; the district's release gives none of them.
• A CDC record on this death. The H5N1 identification, the genetic analysis and the list of earlier deaths come from the Associated Press. We did not open a Louisiana record on the January 2025 death.
• A Washington State Department of Health release on the death. Its newsroom page listed nothing newer than Oct. 27 when we checked.
• The state agriculture department's herd tracker, which showed no herd figures when we opened its page, and USDA's national herd table, which did not load for us, so we give no national herd total. The Yakima Health District's own bird flu address also did not open; the county-hosted page we read, which lists three confirmed human cases, was last updated Nov. 1.¹¹
• How the CDC's 72 cases, dated before the second and third Yakima cases were reported, relate to the county and state figures. They are separate measures, and we have not added them.