Nebraskan researchers found that poultry carcasses infected with avian influenza can remain infectious in municipal landfills for almost two years, according to their report Survival of the Avian Influenza Virus (H6N2) After Land Disposal.
Researchers at the Department of Veterinary Basic Sciences and the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln combined their findings to report that AI survived in landfill leachate — liquid that drains or "leaches" from a landfill — for at least 30 days and up to 600 days.