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New vaccine will save from all types of flu
Medical expert of the article
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
At the London Imperial College, the specialists, together with researchers from the National Institute of Health, are very close to creating a universal vaccine, thanks to which the human body will be able to withstand virtually any viral infections.
Studies were started in 2009, during the epidemic of the A H1N1 virus (swine flu), which, as a result of recombination of genes, people began to fall ill. The disease in many passed in extremely severe form, the human body simply was not ready for a new kind of virus. Many scientists were interested in the question of why in some cases the disease proceeded in a relatively mild form, with minimal complications, while in others the consequences were extremely severe, often with a fatal outcome. As specialists found out, the reason for this was antigen-experienced CD8 + T cells.
With an increased concentration of these cells, the body is able to resist virtually any viral disease. Since each year the influenza virus mutates, each time posing an increasing danger to the health and life of people, especially for children and the elderly, the vaccines being developed for a specific strain of the virus quickly become unsuitable. In this regard, experts work every year on the development of new vaccines that are suitable for a particular strain of the virus. The development of vaccines takes a lot of time and money, and it takes time to improve and approve the vaccine. The vaccine appears on the market already in the midst of an epidemic, when the flu can hit hundreds of people, cases are also lethal.
Therefore, scientists thought about the invention of a universal vaccine, which would allow the body to more easily cope with mutating viruses every year. To create such a vaccine, as it turned out, you need to find a method that increases the concentration of CD8 + T cells, in this case the issue of viral infections, which is so acute every year, would be resolved. CD8 + T cells are produced by the body specifically to protect against infection, the more in the body of these cells, the easier the person suffers from the disease and the less the risk of complications. The cells are aimed at destroying the viral nucleus, which is the same for all types of influenza virus, so you only need to push the body to produce these cells. Scientists note that the new vaccine will allow to fight not only the viruses to which a person is exposed, but also with those that mutated from animal species (as in the case of a pig). Of course, a miracle vaccine can not completely exclude the possibility of infection, but its use would help it be much easier to tolerate the disease, and also to avoid serious consequences and complications.
The specialists will take at least 5 years to improve the universal vaccine. But the expectation of a miraculous vaccine justifies itself, because every year more than 5 million people suffer from the flu virus and complications associated with the disease, and about 500 thousand people die of influenza, including children.