PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The first case of highly pathogenic avian influenza in a commercial poultry flock has been detected in Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture confirmed the positive case Monday in a 50,000-bird layer chicken flock on a commercial poultry farm in Lehigh County.
The department said a team of state and federal experts is at the farm working to keep the virus from spreading. The farm has been quarantined and officials are restricting the movement of all poultry products within 10 kilometers of the inflected flock.
The state said there is no risk to the general public, and poultry and eggs are safe to eat if cooked properly, but the virus is highly infectious and deadly to domestic birds.
To date, there have been no reported infections in humans or dairy cattle in Pennsylvania.
Last week, officials discovered the City of Philadelphia’s first case of bird flu in a wild snow goose.