H1N1 Gives Clues to Universal Flu Vaccine

[HuckleB]

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/health/jan-june11/flu_01-18.html

The H1N1 pandemic flu caused a global panic when it first emerged in 2009, but researchers now say it could hold the key to vaccines that protect against a variety of influenza strains.

In a study published last week, scientists from the University of Chicago and Emory University found that patients infected with the 2009 H1N1 strain developed antibodies that are reactive to multiple strains of flu—an immune response that was previously considered quite rare.

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The antibodies from the patients were reactive for all the seasonal H1N1 flu strains from the last decade, the "Spanish flu" strain from 1918, and a strain of the H5N1 avian flu.

Seasonal flu vaccines are reformulated each year to protect against the three influenza viruses public health officials predict will be most common. A universal flu vaccine, that could eliminate the need for individual flu strain vaccines, has long been sought in the fight against the illness, which kills thousands of people in the United States each year.

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Those darn scientists are always trying to push things forward. They're always to change things, and supposedly make them better. Who do they think they are?