ATLANTA — The Georgia Department of Agriculture said on Friday that it has confirmed a positive case of bird flu at a poultry facility in Elbert County.
“This is the first confirmed HPAI case in a commercial poultry operation in Georgia, and the fifth detection in the state of Georgia,” the department said in a news release.
“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,” Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper said.
The department said the case was found on Wednesday after the facility noticed signs of Avian Flu in their flock.
The birds were tested on Thursday and a positive result came back by that afternoon.
“The Georgia Department of Agriculture’s Emergency Management and State Agricultural Response Teams immediately deployed to the affected premises to conduct depopulation, cleaning and disinfecting, and disposal operations,” the department said.
Those operation were expected to continue into the weekend.
All commercial poultry operations in a six-mile radius of the facility have been placed under a quarantined and will have to undergo surveillance testing for the next couple of weeks, the state said.
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