The Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza has devastated the poultry industry in other states and now threatens Georgia’s top commodity. Scott Olson/Getty Images (file photo)
Another case of bird flu has been confirmed on a Georgia farm, this time hitting a larger poultry operation near the site of the state’s first commercial case.
The second case was caught through “routine, premovement” testing at a farm in Elbert County that is about 210 yards away from where the state’s first commercial case was disclosed Friday. This second location had about 130,000 broilers.
The Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza has devastated the poultry industry in other states and now threatens Georgia’s top commodity.
In 2023, broilers had a farm gate value of $5.8 billion, according to an analysis released this month. Elbert County was among the state’s top 10 counties for broilers that same year, producing about 162 million pounds of chicken.
As part of the effort to contain the spread, all commercial poultry farms within a 6.2-mile radius of the original site are under increased testing for two weeks. A permit and a negative bird flu test are needed to move poultry in, out or even around the surveillance zone – where there are about 120 poultry operations, according to the Georgia Department of Agriculture.
Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper said in a statement that bird flu “remains a serious threat to our state’s economy, Georgia’s #1 industry, and the health and safety (of) poultry in our state.”
Since the two sites are so close, Harper said his emergency response team was able to respond to both at the same time. “Depopulation” was finished within two days, but the cleaning and disinfection process is ongoing.
“I want to thank our team at the Georgia Department of Agriculture and our partners, who have been working 12+ hour days during a holiday weekend in the bitter cold to protect our state’s #1 industry and the farm families who fuel its success,” Harper said in a statement.
The samples that led to a second positive case were collected and tested at the state lab the same day news broke about the first case last Friday. The second case was publicly disclosed Wednesday after the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s lab confirmed the positive result late Tuesday.
Harper has indefinitely shut down activities like poultry exhibitions and shows, but the state’s poultry producers and processors are still in full swing.
He has also sought to reassure consumers that the meat and eggs from Georgia producers remain safe. Samples are collected from each flock before broilers are processed.
“Every Georgian can and should have 100% confidence in the safety and security of poultry products offered for sale in the state of Georgia,” Harper said in a press release over the weekend.
Before these two commercial cases, 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.
The H5N1 strain of Highly Pathogenic Avian behind the outbreaks in poultry and dairy cows are widespread in wild birds, 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.
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