SAVANNAH, Ga. () — The Georgia poultry industry is facing a threat known as bird flu, after the Georgia Department of Agriculture confirmed a positive case at a commercial poultry operation in Elbert County, Ga.

After the confirmation, the department suspended all poultry activities in the state of Georgia.

President of the Georgia Poultry Federation, Mike Giles, told News 3 the $40 billion industry must be protected.

“The goal of the response is to act immediately, to secure the site, to make sure that the virus doesn’t spread to other areas and other parts of the state,” Giles said.

Giles said the effect on commercial meat and egg production in Georgia has been minimal. However, nationwide, dozens of egg farms have taken a hit causing egg prices to rise.

“Since late October, we’ve lost in the nation about 33 million egg laying hens,” he said.

The poultry industry isn’t the only thing affected; people are also at risk. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently confirmed one death linked to bird flu.

News 3 also spoke to Memorial Health Internal Medicine Physican Dr. Timothy Connelly, about the virus’ effect on people. Connelly said while human cases aren’t common, health experts are keeping a close eye on the situation.

“There’s a lot of concern in birds in the media about this specific strain of influenza. It’s one of the worst ones that we have seen in how it is usually transmitted,” Connelly said. “If it does jump to humans more commonly and if we do see human to human transmission, it has the potential to be very, very bad.”

Giles said that people should not be worried about their chicken consumption. He told News 3 chickens are tested for bird flu long before they reach your local grocery stores.

“From a consumer standpoint, they should have confidence that the chicken produced in Georgia is safe and wholesome to eat,” Giles said.

According to the CDC, the virus is transmitted by bird to human contact. Several recent human cases were in dairy and poultry workers.