A new solution to an age-old problem!
The flu is one of those diseases that has been around since the dawn of time. Heck, I’ll bet even the ancient cavemen had to stay inside their caves on a sunny day because they came down with a base case of sniffles, coughing, and runny noses. For thousands of years, mankind has been trying to develop a means to treat one of the simplest, most common diseases, and the best they’ve come up with is mildly effective flu medication. Flu vaccines may be able to deal with the more serious forms of influenza, but the common flu is still one of the most widespread diseases in the world.
However, a recent discovery may be able to put an end to the flu once and for all…
In order to understand this new universal flu vaccine, you have to understand how the vaccines are made. Scientists and virologists create vaccines every year by predicting the strains of viruses they believe are most likely to be present that year. It’s a predictive game that has about as much reliability as forecasting the weather: you get it right more often than not, but you’re still wrong pretty often.
But this new universal vaccine is made with three different types of antibodies that attack a protein that is present in most types of flu viruses. The protein appears in most strains of the flu, so eliminating that protein may break down the virus and render it ineffective. If this is the case, this universal flu vaccine may be able to deal with the majority of flu viruses without the formula being changed on a yearly basis.
READ MORE: Here’s Why You Need the Pneumococcal Vaccine
In the study that led to this discovery, scientists analyzed the samples of six people who had received vaccination against the bird flu. They were able to identify B cells that reacted to a number of different subtypes of the influenza virus. It was discovered that these B cells could actually neutralize the influenza virus, and the vaccines could help the human body to create them in anticipation of a viral attack, rather than simply as a response to one.
A lot of tests have yet to be run on the B cells in order to determine their effects on the multiple strains of flu virus. 2015-2016 was a mild year for the flu, due to the fact that the vaccines produced this year targeted the right strains of virus and there was a much lower incidence rate of flu among the population. For this reason, it remains to be seen whether or not the new universal vaccine will be truly effective, especially in cases where the flu vaccine is not targeting the correct strains of bacteria.
But, if this discovery proves as effective as researchers believe, it may represent a whole new approach to the flu virus. Researchers won’t have to predict which strains of virus are most likely to infect people each year, but they can simply create a vaccine that promotes the production of the B cells that target all or most strains. By stimulating the production of these antibodies, the universal flu vaccine will prevent the risk of infection and spread–the things that make the flu virus such a challenge to eradicate. Regardless of the strain of flu virus that attacks, the body will be prepared with the antibodies that can eliminate ALL strains of the virus. Talk about an awesome new way to combat one of the oldest diseases in history!
