LSU receives USDA grant to develop bird flu vaccine

Researchers at Louisiana State University have been awarded $2 million to develop a bird flu vaccine for poultry, a disease that has decimated flocks and contributed to price spikes for grocery goods such as chicken and eggs in recent years. 

The team at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine received a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop a vaccine to protect poultry against the highly contagious H5N1 strain of avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu. The money will support research into a vaccine that can provide earlier and stronger protection against the virus in birds including chickens, ducks and turkeys. 

“Highly pathogenic avian influenza continues to pose a serious threat to animal health, the poultry industry and our nation’s food supply,” Dr. Mariano Carossino, associate professor at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine and lead researcher for the vaccine effort, said in a news release. 

Since the current outbreak began in 2022, bird flu has resulted in the loss of more than 168 million commercial and backyard poultry birds nationwide. There is no treatment or cure for the disease, with poultry farmers culling stock exposed to the disease. 

Infected birds shed the virus in their saliva, mucus and droppings, and it spreads through direct contact or in contaminated water, feed and habitat. The highly contagious version of the virus is often fatal for poultry and can spread to other animals, including farm herds and pets.

Avian flu can also be spread to humans who have contact with infected birds, though the risk is considered very low. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists 74 cases of the current strain of bird flu in people with three deaths since February 2024.

The first human case of bird flu in Louisiana was reported in December 2024 in the southwestern part of the state. The person died within a month, though state health officials said they were over age 65 and had underlying health issues. 

Bird flu was found that same month in a Bossier Parish backyard poultry flock, and a domestic cat in New Orleans tested positive for the virus in January 2025.   

Human avian flu symptoms are comparable to those from more prominent seasonal flu strains — cough, sore throat, headache and mild fever — though eye infections have been prevalent in the current outbreak. There have been no documented cases of bird flu spread from person to person, and the virus can not be transmitted through eating fowl that is properly handled and cooked. 

The vaccine LSU plans to develop will be different from more traditional approaches. Its research team plans to use nanobodies, small molecules derived from disease antibodies, to target the vaccine toward specialized immune cells that exist within the intestinal tract of birds. 

The approach is designed to strengthen the body’s defenses at sites where infection from bird flu usually begins, according to the research team. It will hopefully prevent infection and amplify the bird’s overall immune response to ward off the virus. 

LSU intends to develop a vaccine that can be delivered through drinking water and to chicks before they hatch. This would make it more practical for poultry farmers to administer doses to a large number of birds, Carossino said.

“Our goal is to develop a vaccine that provides effective protection against the virus while also being practical for poultry producers to administer on a large scale,” he said.