GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands (CMC) – The Cayman Islands Department of Agriculture (DoA) has confirmed outbreaks of the highly contagious poultry disease infectious coryza in an undisclosed number of chicken flocks across the territory.

Officials stressed that while the disease can significantly affect the health of birds and reduce egg production, it does not pose a risk to human health, and does not make poultry meat or eggs unsafe to eat.

The respiratory disease affects only birds and is caused by the bacterium Avibacterium paragallinarum. Symptoms include swelling of the face and wattles, foul-smelling discharge from the nose and eyes, sneezing and lethargy. Although mortality among adult birds is generally low, the disease can reduce egg production by between 10 and 40 per cent.