Universal Flu Vaccine On The Horizon

As fall rolls around, millions of people line up to get their annual flu shot hoping to protect themselves against multiple strains of the virus.

On Monday, two groups of scientists have reported that they are inching closer to developing a universal flu vaccine capable of providing immunity against multiple types of the virus. 

According to Barney Graham, deputy director of the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Md. and senior author of one of the research papers outlining the advances, "This is an early step"

The difficulty in formulating a universal flu vaccine lies in the fact that influenza is a rapidly mutating virus and when one develops an immunity from a strain of the virus, it doesn't guarantee that they'll be immune to a similar strain that has evolved in a different way. 

The LA Times reports that the two teams have focused on a portion of the virus, specifically the hemagglutinin stem, which has paved the way to the development of experimental vaccines that have shown promise during animal trials. 

The two papers, presented separately via Science and Nature Medicine, is focused on the molecule "stem" which mutates considerably less rapidly across seasons than the head. 

Typically, the creation of flu vaccines are based on the prediction of strains that are most likely to infect the population. Year-long monitoring is able to provide estimates of which strain will likely hit North America during flu season - usually between December to March -- but the process isn't 100% accurate.  

The hope is that the new vaccine will be able to cover a pandemic virus. 

Speaking on the progress being made, BBC quoted Prof Sarah Gilbert, Professor of Vaccinology at University of Oxford, who said: "This is an exciting development, but the new vaccines now need to be tested in clinical trials to see how well they work in humans."

She further added, "This will be the next stage of research, which will take several years. So we are still some way from having better flu vaccines for humans."

The hope for a universal flu vaccine would provide protection against pandemic outbreaks as it would be able to cast a larger net that would protect against a broader range of strains. 

As it stands, the current seasonal flu shot typically received is only able to incorporate three to four strains at a time.