A Worcester County chicken farm has preliminarily tested positive for bird flu, the county’s first reported case of the disease.
State officials quarantined the affected premises, which has not been named, and all birds on the property are being culled to prevent the spread of Highly Pathogenic H5 Avian Influenza, according to a news release from the Maryland Department of Agriculture. The agency said a confirmation with final results is pending.
Maryland and Delaware public health and agriculture authorities have formed a task force, called the Joint Information Center (JIC) to combat the disease and inform the public. JIC spokeswoman Stacey Hofmann in a statement to OC Today-Dispatch said approximately 201,600 birds were affected in this outbreak.
She also said the task force will not release exact locations of the affected Worcester County farm, or the names of the producers.
“Our primary goal is to prevent this disease from spreading by maintaining tight controls and using effective biosecurity practices. We do not want people visiting or driving by that location to potentially track the avian influenza virus to another location and spread it even wider,” she said.
This is the fifth case of bird flu on the Eastern Shore and the sixth in the state. More than 600,000 broiler chickens had to be destroyed this month after flock samples tested positive for bird flu. Two other cases have been confirmed in Kent County, Delaware, and one in Accomack County, Virginia.