Bird flu is found in chickens at egg producer Cal-Maine's Texas plant

The largest supplier of eggs in the United States halted production after chickens at a Texas plant tested positive for the highly contagious bird flu - the latest in a spike of cases across the nation.

Cal-Maine Foods on Tuesday announced chickens at its facility in Parmer County, in the state's southwestern panhandle, tested positive for pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) resulting in slaughter of nearly 2 million chickens − 1.6 million hens and 337,000 pullets (young hens).

The announcement less than 24 hours after  the Centers for Disease Control reported a person in Texas had been infected with the virus after coming into close contact with dairy cattle and just over a week after sick dairy cattle in Texas and Kansas tested positive for the virus.