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GHN News -Scientists are on the verge of a major breakthrough in the prevention of influenza, so that there doesn't have to be a new flu vaccine with every season.

Research led by scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) have announced a new development in the prevention of influenza. Current flu vaccines do not generate such broadly neutralizing antibodies, so they must be re-formulated annually to match the predominant virus strains circulating each year.

"Generating broadly neutralizing antibodies to multiple strains of influenza in animals through vaccination is an important milestone in the quest for a universal influenza vaccine," says NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.

The potential for this vaccine is considered of serious consequence in preventing influenzas that attack thousands of people, setting off a pandemic and anxieties as the swine flu outbreak caused in 2009.

"This significant advance lays the groundwork for the development of a vaccine to provide long-lasting protection against any strain of influenza. A durable and effective universal influenza vaccine would have enormous ramifications for the control of influenza, a disease that claims an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 lives annually, including an average of 36,000 in the United States."

“We are excited by these results,” says Dr. Nabel, another researcher involved in this effort. “The prime-boost approach opens a new door to vaccinations for influenza that would be similar to vaccination against such diseases as hepatitis, where we vaccinate early in life and then boost immunity through occasional, additional inoculations in adulthood.”

Trials of prime-boost influenza vaccines assessing safety and ability of the vaccine to generate immune responses are already under way in humans, as up until now the research has been on laboratory mice. Dr. Nabel adds.

The information from the new research will be valuable in selecting candidates to move forward into large-scale trials, he says. “We may be able to begin efficacy trials of a broadly protective flu vaccine in three to five years.”