A Flu Vaccine to Kill All Strains

A team of scientists at Oxford University have been working on a universal flu vaccine that could potentially kill off every strain of flu illness known to man. It goes without saying that this would be one of the most (if not the most) significant breakthrough in my lifetime.

Even more amazing is that this new treatment technique works with a part of the flu virus that is common throughout all strains which means that there would be no costly reformulation period every year to match the most prevalent viruses as there is with today's vaccines.

This new technique could prevent pandemics like we have seen with bird flu and swine flu most recently.

"The problem with flu is that you've got lots of different strains and they keep changing," said Adrian Hill, director of the Jenner Institute. "Occasionally one comes out of wildfowl or pigs and we're not immune to it. We need new vaccines and we can't make them fast enough."

Mark Fielder, a medical microbiologist at Kingston University, said:

"This study represents some potentially very exciting findings with positive implications not only for influenza but possibly for infectious disease in a wider context. The findings are extremely encouraging in terms of the apparent efficacy of the virus and the that it appears to be a safe formulation. However, I think that a larger trial will be able to confirm these findings and let this technology be taken forward."

Bambi Blue is a freelance writer, editor, and social butterfly living in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. When she's not blogging her little heart out for HealthCareJobsite.com, she moonlights as a jazz musician and most apparently a weisenheimer. Loves to cook, hates to clean, and can easily be found on Twitter. To read more of Bambi's posts, head to HealthCareJobsite.com and see additional job postings at Beyond.com.