HALL COUNTY, Ga. — Chicken farmers in Georgia's multibillion-dollar poultry industry are on high alert over the risk of an outbreak of bird flu that has killed millions of birds in other states.
The fear is that birds migrating south this winter might infect chicken flocks in Georgia.
Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black gave Channel 2's Tom Regan an alarming weather analogy on the threat of a major outbreak of avian influenza, a deadly disease that could wreak havoc on the state's billion-dollar poultry industry.
"There's a tornado on the ground and clearly we are in the path," Black said.
A worst case outbreak of avian flu could send chicken prices soaring and cost thousands of jobs.
"There will be market impact felt in every consumer household in America," Black said.
The threat comes from birds migrating from the far north to the southern United States.
Contaminated droppings from those birds could infect chicken farms.
State officials are urging farmers to follow strict biosecurity measures to protect their flocks.
"Have dedicated footwear for each of your houses, having decontamination going in and out," Black said. "Even the farm dog becomes a suspect being able to transmit the disease from the environment into that closed facility."
The commissioner says there will be enhanced testing of birds should a flock become infected.
It will be quickly isolated and contained.
"We are working hard to prevent it, and if it does arrived here, we will stamp in out as quickly as possible," Black said.
While bird flu has not struck in Georgia, it has resulted in the deaths of nearly 50 million birds in other states.
WSBTV
