Breakthrough on influenza vaccine

Japanese researchers have developed a new approach to make flu vaccines that are able to combat multiple strains of influenza, including strains of the bird flu virus, according to Japan's National Institute of Infectious Diseases. The advance centers on their ability to develop a peptide based on the influenza virus with an antigen on the surface which triggers an immune response. The new approach is distinct from current vaccines, which create antibodies that target influenza. As the surface of the virus mutates it can escape detection by the current generation of vaccines. This new approach targets the inside of a virus rather than its surface. And the researchers, led by Tetsuya Uchida, tested the new approach on mice infected with multiple strains of influenza.

Tetsuya noted that a new vaccine frequently takes about five years to develop. But he added that with the current alarm over a possible outbreak of bird flu among humans, a more rapid development program could be put into place. More than 200 people have died from bird flu to date.

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