New study highlights potential means of creating ‘universal’ flu vaccine

US scientists have created a potential new means of developing a 'universal' vaccine that can provide broad protection against numerous influenza strains.

Published in the medical journal mBio, the study showed how a virus-like particle vaccine cocktail developed by the team expressed a handful of different subtypes of a key surface protein of the influenza virus: haemagglutinin H1, H3, H5 and H7.

Experiments with mice revealed that 95 percent of subjects vaccinated with the investigational cocktail were protected against eight different influenza strains expressing seven different influenza A subtypes, compared to only five percent of those on placebo.

It was also shown that the vaccine was durable, effective for at least six months, and that it worked well in older mice.

Study leader Dr Jeffery Taubenberger of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said: "These initial findings are very positive and suggest a promising and practical strategy for developing a vaccine with amazing, broad protection."

This would mark a substantial improvement over the current practice of creating a new flu vaccine each year that protects against a few specific strains that are predicted to be the most common during that year.