(Georgia Recorder) — The bird flu has reached the state’s prized poultry industry, with the first commercial case of bird flu hitting a producer in northeast Georgia.
The state Department of Agriculture announced late Friday that a positive case of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza had been confirmed at a commercial poultry operation in Elbert County.
Before Friday, the bird flu had only affected backyard flocks in Georgia, with four cases previously confirmed – including just this month in a flock of chickens and ducks in Clayton County.
“For the first time since the ongoing, nationwide outbreak began in 2022, HPAI has been confirmed in a commercial poultry operation in the state of Georgia,” Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper said in a statement Friday night.
“This is a serious threat to Georgia’s #1 industry and the livelihoods of thousands of Georgians who make their living in our state’s poultry industry. We are working around the clock to mitigate any further spread of the disease and ensure that normal poultry activities in Georgia can resume as quickly as possible,” he added.
The Elbert County producer first noticed signs of avian influenza in their flock Wednesday, and samples collected and sent to Georgia Poultry Laboratory Network for testing, according to the agency’s release. The lab concluded it was a positive case Thursday, and that test result was confirmed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Friday.
The producer had about 45,000 broiler breeders on site when the case was detected.
Broilers are big business for Georgia, representing the state’s top commodity. In 2023, broilers had a farm gate value of $5.8 billion, according to an analysis released this month. That represents one-third of Georgia’s total agricultural commodities.
Georgia’s Department of Agriculture deployed an emergency response team to the site Friday to “conduct depopulation” and clean and disinfect the facility as they work to contain the spread. That work was expected to continue through the weekend.
All poultry operations within a 6.2-mile radius have been placed under quarantine and will undergo testing for the next two weeks.
Harper’s agency has also shut down all poultry exhibitions, shows, swaps, meets and sales at flea markets and auctions until further notice.
The H5N1 strain of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza is widespread in wild birds and is causing outbreaks in poultry and dairy cows, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC considers the public health risk to be low, but there have been 67 confirmed cases in people, mostly from direct contact with cattle or poultry. Georgia has not had a human case of bird flu.
Nationally, one person has died. A Louisiana man, who was over the age of 65 and who had an underlying medical condition, died this month after exposure to backyard birds and wild birds.
