Researchers from Lancaster University have created a universal vaccine against influenza

 Sherry Young / Fotolia 

Epidemics of influenza each year deliver hundreds of millions of people in trouble for a long period of time. WHO estimates that by flu die each year from 250 to 500 thousand people. In some years, the number of victims of this dangerous disease comes to a million a year. Despite the fact that influenza good activators studied hard to deal with them. The fact that there are hundreds of variants of influenza virus (about 2000), which differ from each other antigenic spectrum. The fight against the influenza virus complicates the fact that under natural conditions often change their antigenic structure.

WHO recommended method of flu prevention - vaccination. Unfortunately, it is not very effective. In particular, there is no data being spread virus reduction or decrease morbidity in the vaccine. Also specialists little information about the protection of adults aged 65 years and older. In general, the standard flu vaccine provide moderate protection against virologically confirmed influenza, but in some cases this protection is either greatly reduced or absent. For many years, doctors are trying to create a universal influenza vaccine effective against most types of the virus. Researchers from Lancaster University say they succeeded.

According to them, the vaccine is effective against 88% of known strains of influenza virus. And to protect a man enough just one injection. Vaccination scientists propose to spend the winter. The project for the development of this drug was also attended by doctors from Spain.

Researchers have developed two types of universal vaccine. First designed for the US and 95% effective against influenza virus strains prevalent in this country. The second - a global vaccine, which was discussed above. It is effective against 88% of strains of influenza virus.

"Every year we vaccinate people against the flu by selecting multiple strains, which have been recently active. On the basis of these strains we are developing a vaccine, hoping that it will be effective against pathogens of future epidemics. This method is safe and works well ", - said Derek Geterer, one of the project participants.

He added that in some cases, this method simply does not work - as happened, for example, in 2014-2015, when the planet has spread H3N2 strain. According to experts, the vaccine helps prevent the emergence of pandemics of dangerous types of influenza viruses. Thus, the "Spanish flu" has claimed millions of lives in 1918, 1957 and 1968.

Flu and now kills hundreds of thousands of people a year. Usually death is characteristic for the elderly or people whose bodies, for some reason weakened.

To create a vaccine experts have studied the structure of the virus, was developed with the help of specialized software components of the vaccine, effective against most of the known strains of influenza virus. "Based on prior information about the virus, as well as data on the human immune system, we were able to develop a vaccine that protects people for much longer than conventional vaccines," - said Geterer.

A vaccine based on a specific influence on the structure in the body of the virus, known as "epitopes". These structures are attached antibodies. Vaccines of this type were relatively long time, but when you create a new universal vaccine, scientists have collected reliable information on the vast majority of the epitopes of different strains of influenza virus. The vaccine is a mixture of dozens of well-known rhinoviruses.

The effectiveness of the new vaccine has been tested on mice and monkeys. In all the experiments with the introduction of a new vaccine to animals began to produce antibodies effective against the influenza virus. Thus researchers injected into mice and primates different virus strains. Total vaccine effect was tested on 25 different strains of mice and in the case of 50 strains in case of macaques. In all cases, the virus was defeated by the body of the animal.

If researchers from Lancaster University have created a truly universal influenza vaccine, it will help humanity avoid a repeat of the pandemic "Spanish flu". In the years 1918-1919 (18 months) worldwide Spanish flu had infected about 550 million people (29.5% of the world's population, as of a given time period). Died about 50-100 million people or 2,7-5,3% of the population, which makes this epidemic one of the biggest disasters in the history of mankind. The mortality rate among infected was 10-20%. The epidemic started in the last months of World War I and quickly surpassed the largest at that time an armed conflict on the scale of the victims. And many flu victims have not been weakened - they were young and quite healthy people age group 20-40 years. This influenza pandemic was the most massive in the history of mankind in absolute terms both in the number of infected and dead.

The results of the authors' universal vaccine were published in the journal  Nature Communications.