Studying Bird Flu in the Air to Protect People, Agricultural Operations in Michigan and Beyond

Mar 30, 2026

Key takeaways:

A $2M USDA grant will fund research on the infectivity of bird flu in the air.
Nonthermal plasma has been shown to deactivate airborne virus particles.
University of Michigan Engineering is collaborating with researchers at the University of Bristol in the U.K.

Discovering how the bird flu virus degrades in the air around livestock and how engineering solutions can effect that degradation quickly and efficiently are core aims of a new University of Michigan Engineering-led project funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This work could help prevent or mitigate future outbreaks.

Detection of bird flu infection within flocks and herds leads to the mass culling of animals, which disrupts food supply chains. The ongoing outbreak of HPAI H5N1 that began in 2022 in the U.S. has led to the loss of 175 million birds and, as of late 2024, has cost the industry roughly $1.4 billion.

The $2 million grant from the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service aims to answer two fundamental questions about bird flu:

How quickly does the virus that causes bird flu lose its infectivity in the air, specifically air found in enclosed livestock environments?
What technologies can effectively reduce bird flu’s infectivity in those environments?

Source : umich.edu

Video: Post-Weaning E. coli Control - Dr. Rodrigo Paiva

In this episode of The Swine it Podcast Show Canada, Dr. Rodrigo Paiva, DVM and PhD candidate at Iowa State University, explains how post weaning colibacillosis has changed in recent years and why pathogenic Escherichia coli has become more important in swine production. He discusses virulence factors, diagnosis, whole genome sequencing, biosecurity, and practical strategies to reduce disease risk while improving herd health. Listen now on all major platforms!

"Pathogenic E. coli now behaves like a robust, well-equipped truck carrying multiple tools for post-weaning disease."

Meet the guest: Dr. Rodrigo Paiva / rodrigo-paiva-09364355 is a veterinarian and PhD candidate at Iowa State University specializing in swine health, veterinary epidemiology, and post weaning colibacillosis. After several years working in commercial swine production in Brazil, his research has focused on understanding pathogenic Escherichia coli and improving disease prevention in modern production systems. Listen to Dr. Rodrigo Paiva on The Swine it Podcast Show Canada, available on all major platforms.