Credit Washington State Dept Ag.
#19,380
Not quite 2 weeks ago the USDA/APHIS announced the first detection of H5N1 in dairy cattle in Washington State, which was followed a week later by the first (reportedly mild) human H5N1 infection reported in the U.S. in 2026 (see Washington State Confirms Human Avian Flu Infection).
Details, such as the genotype, how cattle may have been infected, and the exact exposure (apparently, dairy cattle related) of the human case have yet to be released. On Oct 8th, the USDA stated "APHIS will complete genetic sequencing and announce final results as soon as they are available.", but thus far I've seen nothing published.
Three days ago I posted Washington State Confirms 3rd Dairy Herd Infected With H5N1, which was apparently reported on the 15th. Yesterday the USDA and Washington State Department of Agriculture added 5 more herds, all reportedly in Yakima County.
Other than the above updated dashboards and graphics, I've found no other information on these latest developments.
As mentioned previously, Washington is one of the few U.S. states that allows the sale of raw milk in grocery stores, natural food markets, food co-ops, and direct-to-consumer farm stores.
While I'm confident that pasteurization effectively kills the H5N1 virus in commercial milk, raw milk (and milk products) are a different matter. In 2024 and 2025 we saw a number of high profile reports of pets infected with H5N1 via raw milk and/or raw pet food (see Washington State (WSDA) Announces 2 Households with H5N1 Infected Cats Linked to Raw Food).
On Oct 8th, the State of Washington issued this warning:
Dairy product safety
Pasteurization inactivates viruses and bacteria in milk, including HPAI virus, helping ensure the safety of the dairy supply. Infected cows can shed the virus in their milk, making raw milk and other raw dairy products unsafe for consumption. Avoid raw dairy product consumption, and do not allow your pets to consume raw milk or other dairy products, or raw foods such as raw meat.
But given the sotto voce release of information on these recent events, it isn't clear how well that message is getting out.
