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Discovery may lead to universal flu vaccine
September 23, 2013
A new medical discovery could protect Britons against future flu pandemics.
Scientists have claimed a new scientific breakthrough could help protect against every kind of flu.
Researchers at Imperial College London have said a "blueprint" for such a vaccine has been established, with details of their find being published in the journal Nature Magazine.
The jab would work by targeting the core of the virus, which remains uniform, unlike the proteins on the outside that can change and mutate to form new strains.
As a result, it is possible such a vaccine would kill existing kinds of flu and also new strains, potentially preventing future pandemics.
Study leader Prof Ajit Lalvani, told the BBC a vaccine is about five years away.
"We have the know-how, we know what needs to be in the vaccine and we can just get on and do it," he explained.
This breakthrough in healthcare could save lives, from the thousands killed by conventional flu in Britain every winter through to the possible casualties if fears about swine flu or avian flu were to be fulfilled.
Historic pandemics include the 1918 Spanish flu outbreak, which killed millions of people across Europe.
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