Woman hospitalized in Wyoming with H5N1 bird flu

A woman in Wyoming was hospitalized with H5N1 bird flu, according to health officials who say she was likely infected by handling sickened birds in a backyard flock.

According to a statement from Wyoming’s public health department, the woman is “an older adult” and has “other health conditions,” which may have made her more susceptible to the disease. She is being treated in another state.

This marks the first human case of bird flu in Wyoming and the 70th human case in the United States since 2024. Although the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s website lists only 68 human cases on its website, it does not yet include this case or another announced earlier this week in a poultry worker from Ohio.

She is also the fourth person in North America to have been hospitalized with the disease. One person in Louisiana died from the infection.

It is not clear whether she was infected with the D1.1 version of the H5N1 virus, which is now widespread in wild birds, poultry and cattle herds in Nevada and Arizona — or the B3.13 version, which is associated with the vast majority of dairy herds.

According to the U.S Department of Agriculture, 968 dairy herds have been infected across 16 states — this does not include the herd in Arizona that was reported earlier this week.

“While this is a significant development as bird flu activity is monitored in Wyoming and across the country, it is not something we believe requires a high level of concern among most Wyoming residents,” said Dr. Alexia Harrist, state health officer and state epidemiologist with the Wyoming Department of Health.

H5N1 has been reported in wild birds in Wyoming. There have also been reported infections in the state’s commercial poultry and dairy cattle.

Harrist and the CDC say there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the virus, and the risk for the general public remains low.

She recommended that people do not eat raw or undercooked eggs, meat or other animal products, that they avoid contact with wild birds, and that they don’t touch sick or dying wild or domestic birds. She also said people should not drink raw milk or raw milk dairy products.