Influenza vaccines are reformulated every year to match the most common strain of the virus. A report in Science magazine says researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, are developing a universal vaccine. A team led by Dr. Gary Nabel says the vaccine could effectively fight different strains of influenza.
They developed a two-step immunization approach which helped offset a broad range of H1N1 strains in mice, ferrets and monkeys. Tests will be performed to see if researchers get the same results in tests on humans.
The problem is that humans have a pre-existing immunity against influenza. This therefore affects the effectiveness of the new vaccine. However, children and babies have not yet developed an immunity and could benefit from this discovery.
Dr. Nabel comments: "The prime-boost approach opens a new door to vaccinations for influenza that would be similar to vaccination against such diseases as hepatitis, where we vaccinate early in life and then boost immunity through occasional, additional inoculations in adulthood."
Influenza claims an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 victims worldwide each year.