A commercial broiler farm in Cullman County is expected to soon restart operations after two months of containment and surveillance efforts following an Avian flu outbreak, according to State Veterinarian Dr. Tony Frazier.

“We’ve been on site at that farm every day in Cullman County, it has gone well there,” Frazier told WBRC this week.

“There has been, no what we call ‘lateral spread movement’ of the virus from that farm to neighboring or nearby farms.”

In December more than 100,000 birds were killed at the Cullman County farm and a backyard flock in Pickens County after highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was confirmed at the two sites.

Both sites were quarantined and all birds at those locations — about 116,000 broiler chickens in Cullman and 70 guineafowl, ducks, turkeys and chickens in Pickens — were killed to prevent spread of the disease, according to the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries.

All poultry within a 6.2-mile radius of the broiler farm was then tested and monitored for HPAI.

“Those guys at that diagnostic lab were the heroes, because… they were running these samples seven days a week,” said Frazier told WBRC.

He told the station that the Cullman farm is undergoing final testing this week.

Efforts to reach Frazier for comment were not immediately successful.

While cases in Alabama have been contained for the time being, bird flu is continuing to spread rapidly across the U.S.

Over the last three years, 145 million chickens, ducks, turkeys and other fowl have been killed to stop the spread across, according to a report from USA Today.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 67 people have also been infected within the last year.

One person infected with the bird flu died in Louisiana on Jan. 6, USA Today reports.

The patient was over 65 and became ill after contact with a combination of a backyard flock and wild birds, according to the Louisiana Department of Public Health.

Bird flu is typically considered a low risk to human health, according to the CDC.

But the disease is highly contagious to birds, including commercial and backyard poultry flocks.

Symptoms of HPAI include:

• Sudden increase in bird deaths in your flock
• Sneezing, gasping for air, coughing and nasal discharge
• Watery and green diarrhea
• Lack of energy and poor appetite
• Drop in egg production or soft or thin-shelled, misshaped eggs
• Swelling of the head, eyelids, comb, wattles and hocks
• Purple discoloration of the wattles, comb and legs
• Ruffled feathers, listlessness and lethargy

The Agriculture Department has urged the commercial poultry industry and backyard flock owners in the state to increase biosecurity measures to protect their operations from HPAI.

Those measures include:

• Cleaning vehicles and equipment
• Limiting unnecessary visitors
• Sanitizing shoes in clean foot baths
• Changing clothes upon contact with birds and more.

People should avoid contact with sick or dead poultry or wildlife.

If contact occurs, wash your hands and change clothing before having any contact with poultry and wild birds.

More information on biosecurity measures can be found here: http://healthybirds.aphis.usda.gov.

Sick or dead wild birds should be reported to the Alabama Department of Natural Resources and Conservation at 334-242-3469.

Sick or dead domestic birds should be reported to the Agriculture Department’s Poultry Unit at 334-240-6584.