Alabama poultry is free of avian flu or bird flu, a state agriculture official said Wednesday after disproving a report that a Limestone County breeder farm had avian flu.
“Alabama has not had a case of avian flu since 1977,” said Ray Hilburn, poultry program director for the Alabama Department of Agriculture. “We are constantly out there looking and we haven’t found any cases here.”
About two weeks ago, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture had to kill approximately 15,000 birds at two poultry barns found to have a strain of avian flu virus.
After receiving a report that a Limestone County farm might have avian flu, the agriculture department investigated and found the report was without merit.
“We checked with the company and they test every two weeks voluntarily and it is negative,” Hilburn said.
Avian flu is contracted by people handling live chickens, not from eating chicken.
Although there have been human cases of bird flu reported in Asia, Europe and Africa none have been found in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Most cases of infection in humans resulted from contact with infected poultry or surfaces contaminated with the secretions or excretions of infected birds, according to the CDC.
The Agriculture Department routinely checks poultry at flea markets, auctions, commercial farms and breeder farms.
“We visit breeder farms five times per flock,” Hilburn said. Also, every flock where meat is eaten is checked 21 days before slaughter, with a sample taken from each chicken house, he said.
Alabama is considered an AI-clean state (meaning an avian influenza-clean state) because all poultry producers voluntarily test their flocks every two weeks rather than the required 90 days.
The state is third in broiler production behind Arkansas and Georgia.
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