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U OF NEBRASKA RESEARCHERS DEVELOP VACCINE SHOWING PROMISE AGAINST BIRD FLU
Apr. 24, 2026
Source: EurekaAlert! reports:
Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln have developed a vaccine approach that shows promise in protecting against highly pathogenic bird flu, demonstrating strong efficacy in both mice and cattle.
Avian influenza, or H5N1, has disrupted agricultural systems globally, leading to the culling of more than 166 million commercial poultry birds in the United States since 2022. In 2024, the virus spread to dairy cattle -- an unprecedented interspecies transfer -- and subsequently caused illness in about 70 farm workers with close contact to infected animals.
The vaccine research was led by virologist Eric Weaver, professor of biological sciences and director of the Nebraska Center for Virology, along with postdoctoral fellows Joshua Wiggins and Adthakorn Madapong in the School of Biological Sciences. Their findings are forthcoming in NPJ Vaccines. The new vaccine platform is designed to protect against multiple H5N1 strains and to generate immunity in both the bloodstream and the respiratory tract.
The vaccine was tested in mice and dairy calves, producing strong immune responses and complete protection against severe disease in preclinical models. The results suggest the approach could offer protection for livestock, particularly because there are currently no licensed H5N1 vaccines for cattle.
Weaver said the team built on earlier work from his lab when the cattle outbreak began.
"I had started working on this as a potential problem in 2005, but the last publication was around 10 years ago," Weaver said. "When the outbreak began, my hope was that this would cycle through dairy cattle and be gone, but that didn't happen. It got progressively worse and I was worried."
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