A person in Washington state has died from complications of the bird flu, the first such U.S. death in a year.

The Yakima County resident, who had previous health conditions, was exposed to avian influenza at a dairy with infected cattle and had been hospitalized. The person died Sunday, county health officials said.

Two other U.S. deaths have been tied to bird flu since it became a national public health concern in 2024. The first, announced in January 2025, was an elderly person in Louisiana who had a version of bird flu known as H5N1. The other, in Washington state, died in November 2025 from a rarer version called H5N5.