Theseasonal flu could soon go down in historythanks to a new universal vaccine in the development of which scientists from the United States are working.
It is a two-stage immunization strategy. In the first, the organism is prepared withInfluenza virus DNA. It is then reinforced with the vaccine that containsantibodiesthat neutralize a wide variety of viruses, both animals and humans.
Currently the existing vaccines only protect against the 3 strains that circulate today. On the contrary, the new immunizationwould protect againstall the strains that in past decades caused many deaths, like the 1934 and the avian flu strain.
So far, experiments with mice and ferrets have been very promising. Vaccinated animals were able to fight all pre-1999 viruses, the researchers report. And when, three weeks after receiving the booster vaccine, they were exposed to high levels of the 1934 virus, 80 percent survived. Gaby Nabel, who led the study from the Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says that “this prep-boost approach opens a new door for the development of influenza vaccines that could be similar to vaccines for other diseases such as hepatitis “. In fact, the goal is thatthe flu or influenza is one of the childhood vaccinations that are administered in the first years of lifeand that protect all life.
