(Georgia Recorder) — The Georgia Department of Agriculture announced it had detected a case of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, sometimes called bird flu, in a small, backyard flock of chickens and ducks in Clayton County. This is the fourth detection of HPAI in Georgia since a nationwide outbreak began in February 2022, according to the department.
The illness is a highly contagious viral disease that can decimate flocks of birds, both domestic and wild, and can sometimes spread to mammals, including humans. As of Jan. 6, there have been 66 confirmed human cases of H5N1 bird flu in the U.S., including one case in Louisiana in which a patient died.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also tracking an outbreak of bird flu in dairy cows in 16 states, not including Georgia. At least 40 humans have contracted the disease from cows, in what the CDC calls the first instance of likely mammal-to-human spread. No human-to-human spread has been identified.
When a sick bird is detected, the entire flock is euthanized, which can be economically devastating for commercial farmers with large numbers of birds, and the outbreak has been blamed for contributing to higher prices for eggs, poultry and dairy.
“As the ongoing, nationwide HPAI outbreak continues, implementing and maintaining strict biosecurity measures has never been more important,” said Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper. “To date, the ongoing outbreak has impacted more than 133 million birds nationwide and less than .025% of those birds have been from Georgia, the nation’s top poultry producer – that speaks to the effectiveness of biosecurity and the importance of the work our animal health professionals and poultry producers are doing every single day to ensure the safety of their animals, employees, and operations.”
After confirming the presence of HPAI from a dead bird Wednesday, workers from the Georgia Department of Agriculture visited the affected premises on Thursday to “complete depopulation, cleaning & disinfection and disposal operations,” the department said in a release.
The department said the flock was in a residential neighborhood near a lake that is frequented by wild birds, particularly waterfowl which are known carriers of HPAI.
The department believes transmission most likely came from the wild birds or from viral material they shed into the environment. The department noted there are no commercial poultry or dairy cattle operations within six miles of the affected flock.
The Department of Agriculture encourages owners of poultry flocks to closely observe their birds and report a sudden increase in the number of sick birds or bird deaths to the Avian Influenza Hotline at 770-766-6850.
