U.S. resident contaminated with H5N5 a special kind of chicken flu

A Washington State resident has chicken flu, and it is a completely different kind than what was seen in earlier infections, State well being officers stated on November 15, 2025.

It is the nation’s first human case of chicken flu since February. The older grownup with underlying well being situations stays hospitalized.

State well being officers had introduced the preliminary chicken flu prognosis on November 14. The subsequent day, they stated it had been confirmed.

The individual was contaminated with a chicken flu known as H5N5, state officers stated. State and federal well being officers stated it seems to be the primary identified human an infection with the H5N5 chicken flu virus.

That model just isn’t believed to be a better risk to human well being than the H5N1 virus behind a wave of 70 reported human infections within the U.S. in 2024 and 2025. Most of these have been delicate diseases in staff on dairy and poultry farms.

“These viruses behave equally,” stated Richard Webby, a distinguished flu researcher at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. “My intestine intuition is to contemplate it the identical as H5N1 from a human well being perspective.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday issued the same assertion that stated no data would recommend “the chance to public well being has elevated because of this case.”

The company is awaiting a specimen from Washington to conduct further testing.

The distinction between H5N5 and H5N1 lies in a protein concerned in releasing the virus from an contaminated cell and selling unfold to surrounding cells.

“Think alongside the strains of various manufacturers of automobile tires. They each do the identical job, it’s simply every is healthier tuned for particular situations, which we don’t absolutely perceive,” Webby wrote in an electronic mail.

H5N5 might have a special desire for which form of birds it most readily infects, he added.

The Grays Harbor County resident, who has not been recognized, has a yard flock of home poultry that had been uncovered to wild birds, well being officers stated. They imagine the home poultry or wild birds are the more than likely supply of publicity, however say they’re nonetheless investigating.