Bird Flu Detected In Georgia —Nation's Top Chicken Production State

After the first death of a human patient by bird flu or the avian influenza from Louisiana, the flu hit a poultry producer in Georgia. This has happened for the first time in 2022 countrywide outbreak. It is a major cause of concern as Georgia is the nation's top state for chicken production.

When Was It Detected?

The state Department of Agriculture on Friday announced that it has detected a case of "Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza" at a commercial poultry producer in Elbert County, which is around 100 miles northeast of Atlanta. The agency, since then, has suspended all poultry exhibitions, shows, swaps, meets and sales.

The producer for the first time noticed signs of bird flu on Wednesday. The detection was then confirmed by the Georgia Poultry Laboratory Network on Thursday afternoon. Afterwards, it was also confirmed by the USDA's National Veterinary Services Laboratory. The site had about 45,000 broiler breeders when bird flu was detected, reported AP.

As per the reports, on Friday, the state Department of Agriculture's Emergency Management sent its State Agricultural Response Teams to "conduct depopulation, cleaning and disinfecting, and disposal operations." The operation was carried around within a 6.2 mile radius. Every poultry or farm that fell under the radius was put under quarantine and will undergo at least two weeks of surveillance testing.

“That approach to protecting the safety of poultry products produced in Georgia will continue throughout this response and beyond” Mike Giles, Georgia Poultry Federation president said.

Read more about bird flu here.

Has it been detected before?

While the virus had been detected before in Georgia, four times as per the reports. However, all these were detected in backyard flocks previously. Among these, 13 chickens and ducks in this month in Clayton County south of Atlanta were detected too.

Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper said that it is a serious threat to Georgia's top industry and the livelihoods of thousands of Georgians "who make their living in our state's poultry industry."

Bird Flu, Nationwide

Nationwide, the virus has been detected in 84 commercial and backyard flocks with 10.7 million birds on the sites as per the data released by the US Department of Agriculture. It has also been confirmed in dairy farms. The most concerning part is the mutation of the H5N1 virus which has allowed it to infect human, being rarest of the rare cases. The Louisiana man, over the age of 65, who was infected, also lost his life to the disease.

As per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), since 2003, about thousand confirmed cases of human H5N1 was reported to the World Health Organization. Out of this, almost 50% died, and the fatality rate was set at 52%.

The countries reporting the highest number of human bird flu deaths are Indonesia, Egypt, Vietnam, Cambodia, and China. While the fatality rate varies by the strain of bird flu, another type, that is, H679 is known to infect humans has a lower fatality rate of 40%.

CDC also noted that severe H5N1 avian flu in America was "not expected". "Avian influenza A (H5N1) virus infection has previously been associated with severe human illness in other countries during 2024 and prior years, including illness resulting in death," the CDC stated.