A team of researchers working under Japan’s Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has developed a new universal vaccine effective in many types of flu. The scientists described the breakthrough as a potential “silver bullet” against new flu strains.

 

Trials in mice have shown promising results but the vaccine hasn’t been tested on humans. According to a report published in Yomiuri Shimbun, one of the big five newspapers in Japan, the new vaccine was developed by scientists from Japan's National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Hokkaido University, Saitama Medical University and the chemical company NOF Corp.

 

For their research, the scientists studied a protein that helps avian influenza virus replicate. These proteins trick cells into copying themselves instead of normal cellular proteins. This universal vaccine contains internal proteins from three influenza strains, which are most common: the Hong Kong A strain, the Soviet A type, and the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu strain. The researchers targeted the proteins inside the virus, which have a weak tendency to mutate. Scientists fear that the H5N1 strain might mutate into a form that could easily pass from human to human, triggering a global pandemic.

 

Earlier this year physicians have found a recently mutated strain of flu that resists the most commonly prescribed treatment with Tamiflu.

According to the World Health Organization, influenza and its additional complications, such as pneumonia, cause 250,000 to 500,000 deaths annually. Pneumonia can be fatal for young children and elderly, who have a weak immune system. These two categories are the most urged to get vaccinated against influenza.