By: Daisy Davis
Avian influenza concerns have flown the coop in Georgia, but not before causing fear in poultry farmers and residents.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report in January 2026, a new strain of avian influenza could cause problems for wild birds, poultry and cattle.
“The H5N1 strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) is present in wild birds worldwide and is causing outbreaks in U.S. domestic birds and dairy cattle,” the report stated. The CDC website also warns that many other species are susceptible to this virus.
In January, the Georgia Department of Agriculture reported the first case of H5N1 at a commercial poultry location in Elbert County.
Isaac Fung, an epidemiologist and assistant professor at Georgia Southern University, said influenza may be hard to keep up with because of how rapidly the viruses can mutate.
“Influenza is a group of viruses. They infect not only humans, but a number of other organisms,” Fung said. “This includes birds, poultry and pigs.”
Fung said some forms of influenza could infect humans, but not all of them.
“Cycles of replication cause a lot of errors. These coding errors can generate new viruses that have many differences,” Fung said. “Differences in the proteins on the surface of the virus affect whether the human bodies and immunity can successfully bind to it and neutralize the virus.”
The World Health Organization’s January 2026 report on avian influenza states that the currently circulating avian influenza has not demonstrated a sustained ability for human-to-human transmission.
Marina Eremeeva, an environmental science professor at Georgia Southern University who specializes in emerging zoonotic infectious diseases, said that this is not a new issue.
“We actually had an outbreak of bird flu about 30 years ago, and we saw real loss of birds and people,” Eremeeva said. “The original source of it was tracked to wild birds.”
The main problem with influenza, Eremeeva said, is that it is always varying in composition and severity.
“I used to check the CDC regularly, and the lady at the time that was the one in charge of flu predictions, she was joking that she has to look at the crystal ball every year,” Eremeeva said.
Eremeeva said understanding the current strain is the key to determining what to do next.
“It really depends on the strain and, based on my understanding, the strain circulating now is a particularly virulent variety,” Eremeeva said. “The result of this can cause a lot of deaths in poultry flocks, that’s why it's particularly concerning now.”
Eremeeva said this could pose a problem for the food industry because eggs and poultry products are a significant source of protein for many people.
“I think it may result in a very significant shortage of proteins for consumption, not only meat but also eggs, because there are a lot of the people who don’t eat meat at all, right, but eggs would be for some an alternate source of protein,” Eremeeva said. “If a chicken dies, it can’t produce eggs. It’s really a mass production issue at that point. If you don’t have chickens, you can’t have eggs.”
To prevent food contamination and scarcity, commercial poultry farms must take measures to protect their flock from exposure to H5N1.
“What we know about where the bird flu is coming from is that it’s transmitted by wild migratory birds,” Eremeeva said. “I think there’s a need to keep commercial poultry and domestic flocks protected from exposure to wild birds.”
Eremeeva said extensive measures must be taken, even if there is a cost.
“Unfortunately, if the flock is infected, it’s probably going to have to be contained and killed. So that is the sad part,” Eremeeva said. “They need to have very strict disinfection measures.”
Eremeeva said this may include specific outfits for tending to the flocks and specialized cleaning practices.
“When you have an industrial scale, it could be a concern that the people taking care of the birds can get infected,” Eremeeva said. “We talk about it like it’s mostly a bird or poultry pathogen. If you have a susceptible individual, it can infect these people, because we know that the flu virus can mutate depending on what environment it’s in.”
Eric Sorel, the corporate director for quality assurance at Claxton Poultry Farms, hopes to reassure Georgia residents that the cases of H5N1 have been resolved and there is no spread to their poultry facilities.
“There were two cases of HPAI earlier this year in Walker and Hart counties in northern Georgia,” Sorel said. “However, these cases have been resolved, and Claxton chickens have not been affected by this outbreak.”
According to the Georgia Department of Agriculture, emergency management and state agricultural response teams were deployed in both cases to conduct depopulation, cleaning, disinfecting and disposal operations.
Although the H5N1 strain seems to be contained and is not spreading into South Georgia’s poultry industry, it’s important to understand how fast things can change.
According to the CDC’s page on avian influenza, no human-to-human spread of H5N1 has been detected during the current outbreak and the current health risk is low.
“It seems like it’s a relatively small virus, but it changes so much,” Eremeeva said. “It’s very hard; even with all of the mathematical modeling we do now, it’s still very complicated to stay ahead of it.”