ATLANTA — Bird flu has hit poultry producers in Georgia, the nation's top poultry-producing state, for the first time since the 2022 national outbreak.
The state Department of Agriculture announced Friday that it had confirmed a case of highly pathogenic avian influenza at a commercial poultry producer in Elbert County, about 100 miles (165 kilometers) northeast of Atlanta.
The agency has canceled all poultry exhibitions, shows, swaps, meetings, and sales.
The virus has been detected four times in Georgia, but so far only in backyard flocks, including among 13 chickens and ducks in Clayton County, south of Atlanta, earlier this month. It was.
“This is a serious threat to Georgia's premier industry and the livelihoods of thousands of Georgians who depend on our state's poultry industry for a living,” Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper said in a news release. said.
Producers first noticed clinical symptoms of avian influenza Wednesday at the Elbert County plant, according to the release.
The Georgia Poultry Laboratory Network confirmed the positive test for the virus on Thursday afternoon, and the USDA National Veterinary Services Laboratory also confirmed it on Friday. There were approximately 45,000 broiler farmers in this location when avian influenza was detected.
The Georgia Department of Agriculture's Office of Emergency Management sent the state agricultural response team to the scene Friday to “conduct depopulation, cleaning and disinfection, and disposal operations.”
All commercial poultry operations within a 6.2-mile (10-kilometer) radius will be quarantined and subject to at least two weeks of surveillance testing.
Mike Giles, president of the Georgia Poultry Federation, said in a statement Saturday that they are working with state and federal authorities to ensure that all chicken products sold for consumption are safe to eat. has already been introduced, a local retailer reported.
The federation represents producers within the state.
“This approach to ensuring the safety of poultry products produced in Georgia will continue throughout this response and beyond,” Giles said.
A spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Agriculture said that in the event of an outbreak of livestock disease, affected locations are named to prevent unauthorized access to operations that could cause disease spread and to protect farmers from harassment. He said he would not make it public.
Avian influenza is widespread, killing millions of wild and domestic birds and other animals around the world over the past two years.
Nationwide, the virus was detected in 84 commercial and backyard flocks last month, with 10.7 million birds in those locations, according to the latest online data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
It has also been confirmed on dozens of dairy farms.
Although human cases are rare and found primarily among farm workers, one person has died from avian influenza. A man over 65 years old from Louisiana was hospitalized with severe respiratory symptoms.
