fixaging

There may be potentially a single treatment which could provide protection against all types of flu. This would be a huge boost as many age related deaths are caused as the immune system is already weak and then being unable to cope with illnesses which at a younger age would be shrugged off. Also there would be an economic increase with the reduction in people needing to take days of for illness, not to mention the increase quality of life for people no longer having to suffer through flu symptoms.

The vaccine, is made by Acambis, and it would protect against all strains of influenza A. At the moment it is possible to be injected with a flue vaccine but it must be administered every month, however the new vaccine would not have administered every year. US trials show that the injection is safe and fast working, with 9 out of 10 of those who had doses of vaccine developed anti-bodies against the flu virus (this means that the virus will have a very hard time gaining hold next time it attacks). Currently Acambis are working with Professor Walter Fiers from the University of Ghent in Belgium and the Flemish Institute of Biotechnology to improve the formulation, prior to starting bigger human trials.

The way that this new vaccine works is by focusing on a protein called M2, which is found on the surface of A-strains of flu and does not mutate readily. The reason that current vaccines are constantly needed to be recreated is that, the two proteins (heamagglutinin and neuraminidase) tend to mutate very frequently.

Tags: Life expectancy //