Georgia’s Poultry Industry Faces Bird Flu Outbreak
In a concerning development for Georgia’s poultry industry, the state’s Department of Agriculture has confirmed the presence of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) at a commercial poultry producer in Elbert County. This marks the first instance of bird flu hitting a poultry producer in the state since the nationwide outbreak in 2022. Known as the top state for chicken production in the country, Georgia’s agricultural sector is now grappling with the implications of this outbreak.
The detection of HPAI at the Elbert County location, situated approximately 100 miles northeast of Atlanta, has prompted immediate action from authorities. The Georgia Department of Agriculture wasted no time in suspending all poultry exhibitions, shows, swaps, meets, and sales in an effort to contain the spread of the virus and protect the state’s vital poultry industry.
This latest occurrence of bird flu in Georgia comes on the heels of previous detections in backyard flocks, with cases reported among 13 chickens and ducks in Clayton County earlier this month. Emphasizing the gravity of the situation, Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper underscored the threat posed by HPAI to the state’s poultry industry and the livelihoods of those working within it.
Upon noticing clinical signs of bird flu at the Elbert County site, the producer promptly reported the issue, leading to confirmatory testing by the Georgia Poultry Laboratory Network. Subsequent verification by the USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory solidified the diagnosis, confirming the presence of the virus at the facility, which housed approximately 45,000 broiler breeders.
In response to the outbreak, the Georgia Department of Agriculture’s Emergency Management swiftly mobilized State Agricultural Response Teams to initiate depopulation, cleaning, disinfecting, and disposal operations at the affected site. Additionally, commercial poultry operations within a 6.2-mile radius were placed under quarantine, with mandatory surveillance testing to be conducted over a period of at least two weeks.
Georgia Poultry Federation president Mike Giles reassured the public that stringent testing protocols are already in place to ensure the safety of chicken products intended for consumption. The federation, representing producers across the state, affirmed its commitment to upholding rigorous safety standards throughout the response to the outbreak and beyond.
As the state grapples with the ramifications of the bird flu outbreak, efforts are underway to prevent unauthorized access to affected sites and mitigate the risk of further disease transmission. With millions of wild and domestic birds succumbing to the virus globally over the past two years, the urgency of containing the spread of HPAI remains paramount.
On a national scale, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported detections of the virus in 84 commercial and backyard flocks in the past month, affecting a total of 10.7 million birds. The impact of bird flu has also extended to dairy farms, underscoring the far-reaching consequences of the outbreak on various sectors within the agricultural industry.
While human cases of bird flu are rare
