ACCOMACK COUNTY, VA - The spread of bird flu on Delmarva has now reached Virginia’s Eastern Shore, with a commercial broiler flock in Accomack County showing presumptive positive testing results for H5N1.
The Cooperative Extension announced Thursday morning that Highly Contagious Avian Influenza (HPAI) has been found in Accomack County and asked both commercial producers and backyard flock owners to follow biosecurity measures to protect their flocks.
Just after 4 p.m. on January 16, the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services confirmed the detection.
Accomack County is now the latest Delmarva county to report the highly pathogenic virus. On Wednesday, Queen Anne’s County in Maryland reported the avian disease had been found in a broiler flock. Commercial operations in Caroline County, MD and Kent County, DE. Wild snow geese were also previously found in Sussex County, DE and both Worcester and Dorchester Counties in Maryland.
The Accomack County Cooperative Extension askes anyone with increased deaths in their flocks to contact the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services at 540-209-9120.
Agriculture officials in Virginia say the affected flock in Accomack County was euthanized Thursday, and the impacted property quarantined. Additional testing was underway in just over a six mile radius of where the infected flock was found.
Virginia officials said they are now working closely with the USDA as well as the Department of Agricultures in both Maryland and Delaware to respond to avian influenza on Delmarva.
A list of poultry biosecurity measures can be found on the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services website here.
