Washington State Announces 3 More `Probable' H5 Cases

 

#18,386

Although they have yet to be confirmed by the CDC, the State of Washington Department of Health today added three presumed positive cases to their Human H5 list.  Local testing for H5 is generally quite good, and so there is a high level of confidence in these findings. 

For now, the CDC's list of confirmed human cases stands at 39 for 2024. It may be updated later today, otherwise we'll probably have to wait until Monday for confirmation.

As noted previously, the human and poultry infections in Washington state are from the D1.1 genotype of the clade 2.3.4.4b H5N1 virus, which are genetically distinct from the B3.13 `bovine' genotype infecting humans and cattle in California and the D1.2 genotype reported by Oregon authorities where poultry and pigs were found infected earlier this week. 

Time . . . and H5N1, marches on.