Overview
- The patient, an older adult from Grays Harbor County with underlying conditions, has been hospitalized since early November with high fever, confusion and breathing difficulties.
- State and local health officials are investigating the patient’s backyard mixed-poultry flock, which had exposure to wild birds, as the likely source.
- The Washington Department of Agriculture is testing animals, and close contacts are being monitored; no related infections have been identified, officials say.
- The CDC reports no evidence of person-to-person transmission and continues to assess the risk to the general public as low.
- Animal outbreaks remain widespread, with 86 poultry flocks and more than 1.8 million birds affected in the past 30 days, and the CDC counts 71 U.S. human cases since 2024, including one death.