CALHOUN, Ga. — On Nov. 17, the Georgia Department of Agriculture officially announced the release of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza control area designation for the affected premises in Gordon County. This release comes after the successful completion of all required testing and response protocols and with no additional detections reported, the GDA noted in a statement.
“I’m pleased to announce the release of the HPAI control area for Gordon 01 and the successful completion of all required surveillance testing with no additional HPAI detections,” Tyler J. Harper, Georgia agricultural commissioner, said. “While this announcement is a great step in the right direction, HPAI remains a significant threat to our #1 industry, and we will continue to work with poultry producers to protect our state’s flocks and to keep prices as low as possible for Georgia consumers.”
This detection of bird flu in Gordon County was confirmed by the USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory on Oct. 24, 2025. More than 130,000 birds were affected at a commercial breeder production farm.
Depopulation, disposal, and cleaning & disinfection operations immediately took place as soon as the detection was confirmed. GDA Law Enforcement officers maintained a biosecurity perimeter around the affected premises to prevent unauthorized access and limit further spread of the disease, the GDA added.
The Gordon County detection was the fifth in Georgia this year. The previous detection was on Sept. 3 in a Henry County, non-commercial backyard flock.
On Nov. 17, APHIS reported that for the previous 30 days there have been 36 commercial flocks and 47 backyard flocks affected by HPAI. Commercial flocks include 19 in Indiana and 7 in Michigan. These combined confirmations totaled 1.81 million affected birds.
For more information on bird flu, visit APHIS at https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/avian/avian-influenza.
