Hmmm: We may have a universal flu vaccine soon

To test this new approach, which involved just the influenza A strain, 52 volunteers were injected with two doses of the experimental vaccine. The hope was that this would offer protection against all A strains of the virus.

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Results showed the vaccine appeared to be safe; around a fifth of recipients had soreness at the injection site or a headache, in line with the side-effects reported with the standard flu shot.

One year after being vaccinated, participants were still showing antibodies against all type A flu strains, reported the journal Science Translational Medicine last month.

The next stage will be to carry out clinical trials to see if such a vaccine actually protects people from flu and extend it to cover influenza type B, too. If successful, a universal vaccine could be available in five to ten years, the scientists said.

[Yeah, well, after the last few years, I’ll wait for the clinical trials before cheering. If such a vaccine is possible, it would be very good news, as the US routinely experiences 10-30K deaths a year from influenza. However, what counts as a “vaccine” seems remarkably flexible of late. — Ed]

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