The U.S. Agriculture Department has confirmed a case of bird flu in Clayton County.

This is the fourth instance of bird flu in Georgia since an ongoing nationwide outbreak began in 2022. The case in Clayton County involves a single backyard flock that is unrelated to Georgia’s nation-leading poultry industry.

The home is in close proximity to a man-made lade that is often visited by wild birds known to carry the highly infectious disease that has impacted more than 130 million birds since the outbreak started.

Investigators believe the backyard flock may have been exposed to airborne viral pathogens from birds at the lake.