Union County chickens test positive for bird flu as U.S. cases reach record
A backyard chicken flock in Union County has tested positive for a strain of a highly contagious avian flu that is tearing through the country’s poultry population.
The flock tested positive for high path avian influenza (HPAI) last week, according to a news release from the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Another backyard flock in Durham has a confirmed outbreak.
The Union County flock — fewer than 100 birds — will be depopulated to prevent spread of the disease, the NCDA’s news release said.
Avian flu is highly contagious in birds and can be deadly to chickens, ducks, turkeys and other domestic fowl. The virus is considered a low risk to people, officials said.
HPAI also isn’t considered a food safety threat, and infected birds don’t enter the food supply.
Still, Charlotte bird owners should take precautions, officials said in the release. The spread of the disease will likely continue through the winter.
A poultry pandemic
The United States is in the middle of the deadliest avian flu outbreak in history. The disease has wiped out 50.54 million birds, sending egg and poultry prices soaring when consumers are already reeling from inflation.
Agriculture officials have warned that the spread of the disease could have serious impacts on the state’s poultry industry.
Earlier this year, bird flu was found in nine poultry farms in Johnston and Wayne counties, and in a backyard flock in Wake County.
And the spread of the disease meant that North Carolina inmates had to go turkey-less this Thanksgiving. Avian flu-related meat shortages made it impossible for the prison system to buy enough birds to feed the state’s 30,000 inmates.
“We need 40,000 pounds of turkey,” said John Bull, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety. “We can’t get it.”
