A Washington resident has been infected with the H5N5 strain of bird flu, the first recorded human case of the disease in the United States, the state Department of Health said.
"A strain of bird flu has been confirmed in a Grays Harbor resident who was hospitalized with flu-like symptoms in early November.
Further analysis revealed that the virus was H5N5, a type of bird flu previously found in animals but never in humans," the ministry said in a statement on its official website.
Transmission of this strain of the virus to humans is very rare, and cases of its transmission have never been reported in the United States, the ministry said.
As mentioned in the message, the risk of bird flu infection is currently assessed as low.
It is reported that the hospitalized man kept poultry that came into contact with wild birds, which are probably the source of the infection.
