The End of Flu Season: A Universal Flu Vaccine
With the arrival of the flu season, it is more important than ever for the American public to vaccinate themselves to avoid falling sick to the disease. The influenza virus, better known as the flu, is a deadly disease that causes millions of infections and thousands of deaths each year. One of the difficulties that public health officials face in protecting our populations from this virus is that the virus is able to mutate, or change form, rapidly. This leads to vaccines developed against the virus to be ineffective as people are not protected from these new mutations. The current solution in the medical field has been to develop a new vaccine that provides protection from multiple strains every year and to distribute this to the public. A recent study published has provided a promising alternate: a universal flu vaccine.
Every year, the public has to get vaccinated in order to have some defense against the influenza virus.
Image Source: whitesession
This prototype vaccine is universal because it is able to target, or tell the body to attack, all flu strains by identifying a common structure. All strains of influenza have a structure called the HA protein, made of an unstable ‘head’ portion and a more stable ‘stalk’ piece. While the seasonal vaccine usually targets the ‘head’ portion, the strains often mutate this area. The ‘stalk’, on the other hand, does not mutate easily and is fairly similar in all strains, which makes the piece an ideal target.
To see whether the prototype was effective in preventing influenza, the researchers of the study tested the vaccine on mice populations to see the antibody response, or the body’s defense system against the virus. Several trials demonstrated that there was a high antibody response in the mice, meaning that the mice were highly equipped to handle an influenza infection. Additionally, the response was found to increase over time, suggesting that the body would strengthen itself later after administration of the vaccine.This would help people with the vaccine by keeping their immune response at high levels to attack any flu virus in their blood.
The study concluded by declaring the prototype a possible solution to the current vaccination issues. Future studies would most likely explore how exactly the targeting occurs, so that the efficiency of the vaccine can be increased. Furthermore, it was found that the manufacturing process for the vaccine production was very efficient and specific to the influenza virus. In the meantime, the promise of a universal vaccine gives hope that the influenza virus strains can be wiped out with the single dosage to the general public.
To see whether the prototype was effective in preventing influenza, the researchers of the study tested the vaccine on mice populations to see the antibody response, or the body’s defense system against the virus. Several trials demonstrated that there was a high antibody response in the mice, meaning that the mice were highly equipped to handle an influenza infection. Additionally, the response was found to increase over time, suggesting that the body would strengthen itself later after administration of the vaccine.This would help people with the vaccine by keeping their immune response at high levels to attack any flu virus in their blood.
The study concluded by declaring the prototype a possible solution to the current vaccination issues. Future studies would most likely explore how exactly the targeting occurs, so that the efficiency of the vaccine can be increased. Furthermore, it was found that the manufacturing process for the vaccine production was very efficient and specific to the influenza virus. In the meantime, the promise of a universal vaccine gives hope that the influenza virus strains can be wiped out with the single dosage to the general public.
Featured Image Source: qimono
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