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Two separate U.S. teams have reportedly made progress on creating a universal influenza vaccine, according to the BBC:
Researchers say they are closer to developing a vaccine to give life-long protection against any type of flu, after promising trials in animals. Two separate US teams have found success with an approach that homes in on a stable part of the flu virus. That should remove the problem with current flu vaccines which must be given anew each year because they focus on the mutating part of the virus.
The proof-of-concept work is published in Science journal and Nature Medicine [both paywalled]. Studies are now needed in humans to confirm that the method will work in man.
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Progress Reported on Universal Flu Vaccines
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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
The smallest worm will turn being trodden on.
-- William Shakespeare, "Henry VI"
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday August 25 2015, @12:09PM
The flu barely seems to survive as it is. I never get a shot and I only get the flu like once a decade and most folks I know don't catch it either. So if even half the population became totally immune, its already pitiful ability to spread might completely wipe it out. Some farmer in China catches it from carnal relations with a pig or however it crosses the species barrier, then it tries to spread to his wife and then to the rest of the world ... and whoops she is one of the half or whatever who are immune so nobody but Farmer Pig Lover suffers from the flu.
Now something like a simple cold, where average dude gets a couple per year, that is not going to be wiped out because its so virulent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 25 2015, @12:38PM
Just because you haven't met many of the "tens of millions" who get infected or the "hundreds of thousands" that die every year, that doesn't mean that influenza barely survives.
Influenza is not transmitted sexually.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_flu#Impact [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 25 2015, @02:16PM
Your link said they have no idea who is dying from the flu because they don't test for it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 25 2015, @02:42PM
No, it says that the exact worldwide numbers are not known. Many parts of the world do not do a PCR or antibody test to confirm what someone died of and just classify the cause based on symptoms. Guess why it is called Influenza-like illness and not coronavirus-like illness.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 25 2015, @11:06PM
Yea, just like once they started confirming measles like illness they find this happens for less than 2% of suspected cases:
http://jid.oxfordjournals.org/content/189/Supplement_1/S185.full [oxfordjournals.org]
Editor CDR. Communicable Disease Report. Volume 7, Number 6, 7 February 1997. Public Health Laboratory Service. ISSN 1350-9357
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140714084352/http://www.hpa.org.uk/cdr/archives/1997/cdr0697.pdf [nationalarchives.gov.uk]
Note the assumption of constant number of incorrectly diagnosed cases is an assumption. This number may have been much higher in the past. The fact is that many viruses cause similar symptoms, no matter what you look at. Estimating such numbers is not straight forward.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2015, @01:54AM
Are you seriously trying to compare estimating the number of measles cases with those of influenza? Comparing the surveillance of a disease that has been substantially reduced and typically only results in a single presentation with one that infects a large proportion of people every year does not make sense.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2015, @02:15AM
Based on previous experience, if we have no idea what percent of these cases will be confirmed we should assume it is low. It is not my fault they decided to implement widespread measles vaccination before collecting good data on how many people actually had measles. It also won't be my fault when they do the same thing for influenza, once again leaving us with ambiguous information that can be explained multiple ways.
My point is that nearly everything I read about medicine is based on sloppy as hell research. I think the basic idea behind vaccinations makes a lot of sense, and should be investigated properly by scientists.
(Score: 2) by Gravis on Tuesday August 25 2015, @02:02PM
The flu barely seems to survive as it is. I never get a shot and I only get the flu like once a decade and most folks I know don't catch it either.
exactly! that's why i've become convinced that part of the population secretly licks door knobs and handles. :)
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday August 25 2015, @02:38PM
They don't wash their hands, so its the same thing. Just like those people that use the bathroom and walk out without washing their hands, yes people do notice, yes we do.
(Score: 2) by curunir_wolf on Tuesday August 25 2015, @10:48PM
I am a crackpot
(Score: 2) by darnkitten on Tuesday August 25 2015, @05:41PM
Where I live, we usually have one or two (usually Seniors) die per year from pneumonia or some other complication which starts out with flu. Several more are generally hospitalized from said complications. I, myself, usually catch it every 2-3 years, because I work in the Library and come in contact with kids and people who need books to read while they are sick in bed.