WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries and the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service confirmed bird flu cases in a commercial broiler farm in Cullman County, which is Alabama's top poultry-producing area, and a backyard flock in Pickens County.
The result was confirmed at the Alabama State Diagnostic Laboratory in Auburn after the samples of the affected birds were tested for the virus.
Following the confirmation, the health officials quarantined the affected farms and culled over 115,000 birds to prevent the disease from spreading.
'For small scale producers, it's going to be a very large hit,' Nick Jones, with Five Sons Farms in Madison County, told FOX54. 'An outbreak of the avian flu would be, obviously, devastating to myself or any other farmer's annual income. It would be huge.'
'But you still have a responsibility to report something like this.' The ongoing avian influenza poses a threat to Alabama's economy as it ranks second in the U.S. for broiler production, with Cullman County generating more than $800 million in annual chicken sales.
To address the outbreak, the state health department is working closely with state animal health officials to form a joint response plan. Also, the officials are monitoring all poultry situated within a 10-kilometer radius of the Cullman farm to contain the virus.
Despite the outbreak, Dr. Tony Frazier, Alabama state veterinarian, assured, 'The poultry meat is safe. It is available to the consumer, they should enjoy that and not be worried that they are going to get bird flu from eating a Chick-Fil-A sandwich. That's just not going to happen.'
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