Senior project designed to check the spread of avian influenza
When avian influenza ripped across the United States in 2015 — with an estimated 50 million birds affected in the largest outbreak in U.S. history — part of the reason was that the disease spread from farm to farm through equipment that had been in contact with infected birds.
While large-scale poultry operations are able to decontaminate their equipment effectively, that decontamination technology comes at a cost that owners of smaller or backyard flocks oftentimes can’t afford.
Because of this, a University of Delaware multidisciplinary senior design team has developed an easy, low-cost system that backyard flock owners can build for themselves to effectively decontaminate their equipment, thus cutting down on the spread of avian influenza.