The Washington state Department of Health (DOH) confirmed the first detected infection of the H5N5 bird flu strain in a human, noting that community risk remains low.

Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease professor at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee, told Newsweek in an email on Saturday, “Infection with a H5N5 bird flu virus likely is a rare one-off event that does not have widespread implications for the general public.”

Why It Matters

Currently, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) has identified 71 cases of bird flu in the country, with one reported death. The health agency maintains that the public health risk is low and there is no known person-to-person spread at this time.

There are several different strai

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