This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: When a strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI, tore through U.S. poultry farms in early 2025, farmers culled tens of millions of birds, and egg prices soared. The losses highlighted the poultry industry's urgent need for additional tools and methods to limit the virus's spread.
Now, researchers from the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences are preparing to test a potential new line of defense. They will use a form of ultraviolet light called far-UVC to see whether it can kill HPAI without harming birds on poultry farms. "The current HPAI outbreak began around 2022 and hasn't ended.
Avian influenza is still being found in Texas wildlife. It is not considered to be endemic in the U.S. and is classified as a reportable poultry disease," said Morgan Farnell, avian microbiology and immunology professor, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service program leader and associate department head in the Texas A&M Department of Poultry Science. Farnell and Ziteng "Tim" Xu, Texas A&M AgriLife Research smart technologies in poultry production scientist and assistant professor in the Department of Poultry Science, will lead the third and final phase of a multiyear study starting in February.
The study will examine whether far-UVC light can reduce airborne pathogen loads inside commercial poultry houses. Far-UVC light differs from conventional germicidal UV light because it can inactivate viruses and bacteria without penetrating deeply enough to damage human or animal skin and eyes. Far-UVC light is of interest as an antipathogen tool because it could be used safely in occupied spaces such as hospitals, clinics, classrooms, restaurants and poultry houses.
Researchers from Columbia University's Center for Radiological Research and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital are studying how effective far-UVC light is against pathogens in a specialized isolator. The results established the groundwork for further testing in commercial farm settings, Farnell said.
"Bill" Huffman '53 Poultry Science Farm Complex, where the trials will be conducted, along with the department's Biosafety Level 2 laboratory and biosecurity and environmental sampling experience, made the university a natural partner for the project's applied phase, Farnell said. Texas A&M's role is to determine whether far-UVC performs similarly under commercial conditions. "The isolators used at St.
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