Universal jab offers hope in fight against multiple flu strains

Published on Saturday 6 September 2008 19:36

SCIENTISTS are beginning clinical trials of a new flu vaccine which could offer long-term protection against multiple strains of the disease.

The jab could even make patients immune to human mutations of bird flu in the event of a pandemic.

Currently doctors can only vaccinate against certain strains of flu and the formulation has to be changed every year to cope with the constant changes in the disease.

Dr Sarah Gilbert of the Jenner Institute, University of Oxford, said: "This approach to influenza vaccination is unsatisfactory for use against seasonal influenza and of little use when new types of flu begin to infect humans from birds."

Existing vaccines produce antibodies in reaction to the proteins on the surface of the virus, but these change between strains and over time. But by changing the way the vaccine works so that it attacks the internal proteins that remain the same, the scientists think they have hit on a vaccine that works for many different strains.

"By targeting the internal proteins of the virus, we can come up with a universal flu jab. The same vaccine would work against all seasonal flu and protect against bird flu," said Gilbert. "Children would be protected, we'd see economic benefits through reduced sickness in people of working age, and the elderly, who respond less well to vaccination, would be better off through lack of exposure to flu."