A new strain of bird flu is putting Washington state residents in the hospital

Health officials say a person in Washington state has a new strain of the bird flu virus.

The virus, H5N5, has never been seen in a person before. It first appeared in 2023 in birds and mammals in eastern Canada. The strain was confirmed by the Washington State Department of Health on Friday.

“Given the lack of such infections in humans and the fact that this person was hospitalized, there is an urgent need to determine how this person came into contact with the virus and whether anyone else was infected,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Brown University Pandemic Center in Providence, RI.

Epidemiologists and virologists worry that bird flu could become a pandemic if allowed to spread and mutate. For example, the H5N1 virus circulating in North American dairy cattle is a mutation that spreads easily between people.

“Every time someone is infected with a new influenza virus, we want to collect as much information as we can to make sure that the virus has not acquired the ability to easily infect and spread between humans, which would lead to an epidemic,” Nuzzo said.

The case involves a man who lives in Grays Harbor County on Olympic Island. Their illness became so severe that they were transferred to the overpopulated Thurston County Hospital and then to King County, where Seattle is located.

Melissa Dibble, a spokeswoman for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, confirmed the Washington Department of Health’s findings, saying the patient had a backyard flock of “mixed domestic chickens.”

“Domestic chickens or wild birds are the most likely source of transmission of the virus,” she said in an email.

According to a news release from provincial health officials, the man is “elderly” and has underlying health conditions. Their symptoms included high fever, confusion and difficulty breathing. This person has been hospitalized since the beginning of November.

“The fact that the patient experienced severe illness from this disease only adds to the urgent need for more information about this particular case,” Nozzo said.

Henry Neiman, an evolutionary molecular biologist and founder of Recombinomics Inc., a virus and vaccine research company in Pittsburgh, said other animals and birds in Canada have been infected, including red foxes, cats and raccoons.

According to last year’s research on the new strain, some infected animals have made an important change in the virus that allows it to be easily transmitted between mammals.

Every time a bird flu virus infects someone, concerns grow that it could mutate, become more transmissible or more deadly. For example, if a sick person has another flu virus in their body, there is concern that the viruses could exchange genetic material. Just by having the opportunity to replicate and develop millions of times in the human body, it can acquire lethal mutations.

Virus samples taken from a seriously ill teenager in Canada, for example, showed the virus had acquired genes that allowed it to easily target human cells and cause serious illness.

Richard Wiebe, in Memphis, Tenn. An influenza expert at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in New York said the new virus is “interesting,” but he’s not too worried yet.

“There is no reason to expect a high risk,” he said.

However, molecular biologist Neiman said the fact that it presented as a serious clinical case in the first infected person should be cause for concern.

“I think it’s a big deal,” he said.

CDC spokeswoman Dibble said they are investigating the case with the Washington Department of Health and maintain that the risk of bird flu to the general public is low. CDC urges caution, however, for people who work or have recreational contact with infected birds, cattle, or other potentially infected domestic or wild animals. They should wear gloves, masks and eye protection.

They also advise people (and their pets) to avoid raw or undercooked meat and eggs and raw milk or cheese.