Sunday, October 26, 2025–2:40 p.m.
-News Release-
The Georgia Department of Agriculture, together with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS), has confirmed a case of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) at a commercial poultry operation in Gordon County, Georgia. This marks the third confirmed HPAI case in a commercial operation and the fifth overall detection in the state this year. Since the nationwide avian influenza outbreak began in 2022, more than 182 million birds have been affected across the United States, including 340,000 in Georgia.
“For the third time this year, Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza has been confirmed in a commercial poultry operation here in Georgia,” said Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler J Harper. “This poses a serious threat to Georgia’s #1 industry and to the thousands of Georgians whose livelihoods depend on poultry production. Our team is working around the clock to contain the spread and protect our flocks.”
On Wednesday, October 22nd, 2025, the producer noticed clinical signs of Avian Influenza in their flock and contacted the Georgia Poultry Laboratory Network (GPLN) on Thursday, October 23rd, 2025. Samples were collected on Thursday and transported to the GPLN for testing. A positive HPAI detection was confirmed by GPLN on Thursday evening and further confirmed by USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory on Friday, October 24th, 2025.
The Georgia Department of Agriculture’s Emergency Management and State Agricultural Response Teams (SART) immediately deployed to the affected premises to conduct depopulation, disposal, cleaning, and disinfection on Friday, October 24th, 2025. Operations are expected to continue into the weekend. The affected premises housed approximately 140,000 broilers.
All commercial poultry operations within a 10 Kilometer (6.2-mile) radius have been placed under quarantine and will undergo surveillance testing for a period of at least two weeks.
