Universal flu vaccine study yields success in mice

Adelaide researchers have taken a step closer to the development of a universal flu vaccine, with results of a recent study showing that a vaccine delivered by a simple nasal spray could provide protection against influenza. University of Adelaide researcher Dr Darren Miller and colleagues have successfully trialled a synthetic universal flu vaccine in mice. The results have appeared this month in a paper in the Journal of General Virology. “Current flu vaccines rely on health authorities being able to predict what the forthcoming viral strain is going to be, and reformulating the vaccines each year accordingly. This is extremely time consuming, labour intensive and expensive, and it’s something that a universal vaccine could overcome,” Dr Miller says. “A simple and totally synthetic universal vaccine – one that is not derived from an influenza virus and does not require annual reformulation – would have clear advantages in health clinics to control and prevent...