A universal vaccine to protect people from most strains of flu may be a step closer to reality.
Scientists say they have developed a vaccine which may only need to be given a few times over someone’s life, instead of a new one each year.
Current vaccines, offered during flu seasons, can become outdated quickly as the virus strains mutate and protect themselves from the drug.
But the new vaccine targets a part of the viruses which does not change between strains, meaning they could not become resistant in the same way.
And the researchers from the University of Pennsylvania say the body’s ability to stop flu actually gets stronger over time.
In the study on mice the authors say they were ‘blown away’ by the vaccine’s success and that ‘the sky’s the limit’.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania say of their new vaccine: ‘If it works in humans even half as well as it does in mice, then the sky’s the limit’
The US researchers began the study because, despite seasonal flu vaccines being widely available, the virus still infects millions of people each year.
Many are hospitalized and over 30,000 people die annually in the US because of the flu or complications caused by it.
The vaccine developed during the study successfully protected mice from various strains of influenza.
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