Universal flu vaccine focus for ÐÂÀ˲ÊƱ scientist

An army officer handing out surgical facemasks in Mexico City. Photo by Randal Sheppard, via Flickr. Dr Mohammed Alsharifi (University of ÐÂÀ˲ÊƱ) says the recent experience of swine flu and the continuing fears of the medical, scientific and world health communities of the sudden emergence of a deadly bird flu strain, means that a new approach to flu vaccines needs to be contemplated.

An army officer handing out surgical facemasks in Mexico City. Photo by Randal Sheppard, via Flickr.
Dr Mohammed Alsharifi (University of ÐÂÀ˲ÊƱ) says the recent experience of swine flu and the continuing fears of the medical, scientific and world health communities of the sudden emergence of a deadly bird flu strain, means that a new approach to flu vaccines needs to be contemplated.
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Friday, 26 November 2010

A University of ÐÂÀ˲ÊƱ researcher is leading a collaboration between Australia and Indonesia on the production of a universal flu vaccine.

"The frequent arising of new influenza strains represents the greatest challenge to health authorities as it renders currently available vaccines ineffective," says , the Head of the Vaccine Research Group at the , University of ÐÂÀ˲ÊƱ.

"While annual vaccine reformulation appears to be effective against closely matched strains of influenza, the current method is not effective against drifted strains as