washington state health department

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — The Washington state Health Department says the state has had 34 lab-confirmed flu deaths so far this flu season. Agency spokesman Donn Moyer says that figure covers confirmed deaths through Wednesday. The...

YAKIMA—Health officials in Yakima County are advising pregnant women to take steps to prevent a rare kind of birth defect that has been detected in unusual numbers locally. Anencephaly is a rare and fatal birth defect that results from incomplete formation of the brain during the first month of pregnancy...

A Yakima man in his 30's is among the first two human cases of the West Nile virus so far this year.  The state health department says the man was treated at the end of last month and had not traveled out of the area.  A Pierce County woman in her 70's is the other case and she had apparently traveled out of state before getting sick. Bot...