The Georgia Department of Agriculture shut down all poultry activities, including sales and exhibitions, in the state after bird flu was detected at a commercial poultry operation.
Friday, a case of H5N1, the highly pathogenic avian influenza colloquially known as bird flu, was detected in an Elbert County commercial poultry operation near the state’s border with South Carolina. This is the state’s fifth case of bird flu, but first in a commercial poultry operation.
“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,” said Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper in a press release.
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“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,” Harper’s statement continued.
Georgia’s poultry exhibitions, shows, swaps, meets, and sales are suspended until further notice, per the press release. Georgia Department of Agriculture’s Emergency Management and State Agricultural Response Teams have been deployed to the area to clean and disinfect, and perform disposal operations.
The state said 45,000 broiler breeders were on-site at the time of detection. All commercial poultry operations within a 6.2-mile radius of the operation in Elbert County have been placed under quarantine and will undergo surveillance testing for a period of at least two weeks.
Last week, Georgia officials announced a case of bird flu in a small “non-commercial” flock of chickens and ducks in Clayton County. The impacted flock was located near a manmade lake frequented by wild birds, which officials have noted are known carriers of the disease.
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Earlier this month, Louisiana reported the first known human death in the U.S. from bird flu. The patient contracted the H5N1 illness through contact with “non-commercial backyard flock and wild birds,” according to the Louisiana Department of Health.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been 66 confirmed human cases of bird flu in the U.S. since April 2024. The CDC also said that since 2022, bird flu has affected about 134 million wild birds, commercial poultry, and backyard flocks in all 50 states.