University of Michigan Engineers Tackle Airborne Bird Flu with USDA Funding
A new University of Michigan Engineering-led project, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), aims to investigate how the bird flu virus degrades in the air around livestock and how engineering solutions can accelerate this process. This initiative seeks to develop critical strategies to protect both animals and humans from the ongoing threat of avian influenza.
Understanding the Threat and Cost
The ongoing HPAI H5N1 outbreak, which began in 2022 in the U.S., has resulted in the loss of 175 million birds and an estimated cost of $1.4 billion to the industry. The detection of infection often leads to the mass culling of animals, which can severely disrupt food supply chains.
Project Focus: Two Core Questions
The $2 million grant from the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will address two primary questions vital for agricultural safety:
- How quickly the virus that causes bird flu loses its infectivity in the air within enclosed livestock environments.
- What technologies can effectively reduce the virus's infectivity in those environments.
Engineering Solutions: Nonthermal Plasmas
Herek Clack, a U-M associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, will lead efforts to test how nonthermal plasmas can render aerosols containing the bird flu virus incapable of infecting humans and livestock. This approach involves exposing air to strong electric fields, temporarily creating free electrical charges that damage viruses.
Clack's team previously developed a plasma reactor capable of reducing infectious viruses in the air by 99.9%. Building on this success, they will now test the inactivation process in air containing pollutants common around livestock, such as ammonia, which can potentially inhibit the effectiveness of nonthermal plasmas. The project will also explore how air pollutants and plasma treatment influence air's pH, a factor that may affect viral infectivity.
Tracking Viral Decay with Novel Technology
Allen Haddrell, a research fellow at the University of Bristol, will investigate how long the bird flu virus retains its infectivity in the air using a new technology. This innovative method involves levitating virus-containing droplets into an electrodynamic field and exposing them to different environmental conditions, such as relative humidity or gas composition.
After a set period, the aerosol is deposited, and the change in viral infectivity is measured. This technique aims to provide more accurate data on the early decay dynamics of airborne viruses, which traditional methods may miss.
Broader Impact and Future Preparedness
The research seeks to provide science-based guidelines for the agricultural industry to operate under the threat of bird flu and to establish foundational knowledge for responses to future human pandemics.
The project also acknowledges the significant risk to workers. A 2023 GAO report indicated that workers in enclosed livestock or processing operations experienced a 50 to 70 times greater risk of contracting viruses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings from this research could therefore have profound implications for worker safety in agricultural settings.