Will this new bird flu sensor bring back affordable eggs?
How do we stop avian influenza (otherwise known as bird flu)? A new medtech device may be part of the solution.
The story: A new biosensor samples air in real time and detects the presence of airborne bird flu within five minutes.
- The hope is the device will help farmers contain future bird flu outbreaks among poultry and cattle—which is ultimately important for protecting human health, too.
- While the researchers are developing further testing to ensure the device works under real-world conditions, they’re reportedly optimistic about scaling the solution up with the help of a biotech partner. They’re even imagining developing a biosensor chip that can detect multiple pathogens at once.
Bird flu’s impact: If you live in the U.S. and have been grocery shopping in the past few months, you’ve felt the effects of bird flu.
- The epidemic spreading through birds and livestock has mostly been responded to with culling of exposed animals. To everyday Americans, this has meant expensive—or outright unavailable–grocery store eggs.
- But that’s not the extent to which humans should be worried about avian influenza. Certain strains have been able to infect humans.
- Though we’ve seen no evidence of human-to-human transmission yet, the fear of a transmissible, dangerous bird flu is real. And the best way to prevent it is to stem the spread—and resultant mutation—among animals.
A clean air future?: This biosensor is not the first time researchers have tried to build a tool to detect airborne virus particles.
- You may remember when researchers created a prototype airborne COVID-19 detector two years ago. The device was meant to be able to detect COVID in the air within five minutes.
- This solution was meant to improve on existing airborne surveillance systems, which generally require pairing with PCR testing to confirm virus samples, which extends the time it takes to get a reading.
- While we’re still waiting on the consumer availability of such devices and are still relying on rapid tests to detect and confirm viruses like COVID and flu, the development of air testing devices—especially if they’re inexpensive and portable—can be a valuable part of future pandemic response and prevention.