Acambis, has announced a new vaccine which it claims should protect against all strains of influenza A. There is an annual, worldwide epidemic of flu A which makes many millions sick and kills half a million to a million people each year. On the other hand, every once and a while there is a new variety of the virus which bypasses existing immunity, and triggers a pandemic that affects many more people. Pandemics kill many millions of people when they occur, and the Spanish flu during World War I killed many tens of millions of people.
As the old saying goes, "there are many slips twixt the cup and the lips." Don't count on this vaccine until it is proven and in production. Still, the public health impact of a universal flu vaccine would be huge. This is very good news indeed!Current flu vaccines work by giving immunity to two proteins called haemagglutinin and neuraminidase, which are found on the surface of flu viruses.
However, these proteins keep mutating which means doctors have to keep making new vaccines to keep up.
The Acambis vaccine homes in on a different protein, called M2, which is found on the surface of all A-strains of flu and does not appear to mutate so readily.
Professor Ian Jones, a University of Reading virologist, said the jab could end the scramble to produce a new winter jab each year.
But he said it would still be some years before it was widely available for patients.
"Larger trials and tests on a wider range of viruses will be needed before the full potential for pandemic protection can be assured," he said.
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