A universal influenza vaccine that has been pioneered by researchers from VIB and Ghent University is being tested for the first time on humans by the British-American biotech company Acambis. This vaccine is intended to provide protection against all ‘A’ strains of the virus that causes human influenza, including pandemic strains.
An average of 5% of the world’s population is annually infected with this virus. This leads to 3 to 5 million hospitalizations and 250,000 to 500,000 deaths per year.
In the 1990s, VIB researchers connected to Ghent University, under the direction of Prof. Emeritus Walter Fiers, invented a universal flu vaccine. One protein on the surface of the influenza virus, the so-called M2 protein, remains unchanged in all human flu viruses known, including the strains that caused the pandemics in the last century. On the basis of the M2-protein they developed a vaccine and successfully tested it on mice and other laboratory animals: the M2 vaccine provided total protection against ‘A’ strains of flu, without side effects.
The goal for this vaccine is that two inoculations would suffice to protect people against all ‘A’ strains of flu.
At some stage of testing, they’ll need old farts for the trials. I’ll see if I can volunteer.
How in the hell are we going to ever control population growth if we keep eliminating all the things that cause people to die?
#1 – If that’s a joke, that’s kinda funny. If you are serious, you are definitely part of the problem and not part of the solution.
It’s not a joke IMO. We are the most diseased species in the world for a reason, medical science. In the wild, the weak and diseased die, thus limiting the spread of the disease.
Don’t worry. We still have floods, tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes. Oh yeah, I forgot wars and terrorists.
#3, huh? How does an animal dying from a disease prevent it from spreading? I’m just passing on a question from the ghosts of the Black Plague.
#5 The weak die, the strong get stronger, improving the species…with animals anyways.
#1 – Sea Lawyer,
The answer is simple, yet unlikely to occur. I’m already a member of this group that knows the solution to all of our problems. You may wish to join as well.
http://vhemt.org/
Slappy, That may be so but a vaccine speeds up the process with the same net result. Needless suffering and loss of life is avoided. Polio would still be widespread if left on it’s natural course. Allowing people to die, would not eliminate the disease but would allow it to evolve with us, rearing it’s ugly head from time to time as the flu now does. So I disagree with you.
#7, are you serious? You had better convert that site to Punjabi and Chinese and hope for a miracle… otherwise you will only succeed in eliminating everyone else. I take it that you don’t have any children.
Another interesting fact… Canada’s population is ONLY growing from immigration. Baby boomers are dying and not being replaced by established Canadians. Is the US the same?
The last time I took the flu vaccine (the ONLY time in my life actually), 2 weeks later I ended up with Dengue fever. 3 months of pure hell, and about another three to completely recover. I think it lowered my resistance just enough for the skeeters to infect me. Possibly a coincidence, but my doc didnt think so, I will not be taking a flu vaccine again, I will just live in a cave.
I had a really bad case of the flu about 11 years ago. I’ve had a flu shot every year since. I don’t want to go through that hell again.
#7, Scott, NEOs will take care of it all, we’re about due for another cataclysm. Apophis may fix the whole thing, and the only people left may be those on the Moon or the ISS.
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/
Hopper, I last had the flu about 11 years ago too. I have never had the flu vaccine because of it’s current dubious effectiveness, and I haven’t been sick either. Other family members get a shot every year and get the flu every year. It’s currently only effective for a specific strain… one of many.
So I think luck has a lot to do with it.
#13 – dude, if you’re making medical decisions based on luck or “what I heard from a doctor once” – consider moving to Cincinnati. They have a museum there just for folks like you. 🙂
@#14, i believe i was basing my medical decision (flu shot) on science… observation and results. The new flu shot seems more promising than the current model. What museum, is in Cincinnati.. curious. 😉
#1 – Don’t worry. Never forget that we’re all gonna die from Global Warming (TM) .
It’s good to see some researches are not done by patent monging “scientists” and even better is to see that it’s not going to become a $500 each vaccine.
Museum? Creationism. 🙂
Moss… oh… forgot about that place. First there was Adam and Eve, then came Fred, Wilma, Barney, Betty and the beloved Dino. Pebbles was begot by Fred and Wilma, Bamm Bamm was begot by Barney and Betty.
I’d like to comment on the whole survival of the fittest thing. The big flu pandemic of 1918 was unusual in that most of the dead were young, healthy men. President Truman was criticized for continuing to send troop ships over to Europe, as the mortality rate from the flu on the congested ships was so high that at the time they were referred to as “death ships”. The flu was largely responsible for ending that terrible war very suddenly. — a fact that was not understood and had far reaching consequences. The Germans, who had been winning big until a few weeks before the armistice were easily swayed into believing that they had been betrayed.
Oops.. that shoulda been Pres. Wilson, not Pres. Truman.
#20, B. Dog
Uummm, not quite.
1)The Germans had been under steady pressure as more American troops arrived weekly. As their raw materials dwindled, they became more desperate.
2) Anti war sentiment was very strong in Germany.
3) The Germans (and the British and French) were very tired of war after four years. Most Germans were very happy the armistice was signed. Food was scarce for civilians and troops alike.
4) The German lines had been pushed steadily back from July until the end of the war.
5) Most armies lost more troops to illness then battle right up to WWII. That was neither new or unexpected. At the time little was known about infectious diseases or their transmission.
6) Referring to the troop ships as “death ships” is a misnomer. It was not unheard of for yellow fever, measles, typhoid, typhus, pertussis, or any number of diseases to break out with high mortality in the closed confines of a troop ship or even in a camp.
7) It is only recently that the 1918 virus has been studied. Why it was more deadly to apparently healthy people is something that has puzzled many scientists.
I wonder how much Mercury is used as a preservative like they do with all the rest of the Flu shots in the US. Did you know that they cannot just throw out a used vival of vaccine? There is enough mercury in the leftover vival that the EPA requires they be burned. But that mercury is ok to shoot into our bodies?
/random thought mode
ok.. saving people is all fine and dandy, but i’m with #1
we don’t have “good ‘ol fashion” wars anymore where 100’s
of thousands die. -we need population control.. i think it’s china with a 2 kid limit iirc…good idea. -better to have fewer that get more attention than many who get near squat.
someone do the math.. use maximum casualty rates.. -how many more people would be on the planet in say 30-40yrs if an extra 500,000 did not die each year?
as for the vaccine… granted its a good thing if it actually works, but, (someone correct me if need be please) i forget, do vaccines weaken the bloodline’s resistance? -meaning if your vaccinated, do antibodies eventually get coded into your genes and passed on, just as if you were exposed and survived.. or does the resistance “die” with you..?
if it doesnt get passed on, i’d hazard a guess that in the long run, it does more harm than good.. *shrug*
at the risk of sounding naive (i’m not well versed in biology)
-and to be a bit cynical… this sounds like a quick get rich scheme disguised as wishful thinking..
-how long would a *universal” vaccine be effective before the “A Strain” mutates and renders it moot. (-or does this no happen with flu viruses?)
-s
Here’s a complete report about the use of mercury as a preservative in vaccines. Very interesting.
http://www.fda.gov/cber/vaccine/thimerosal.htm
If you really want to know the truth of mercury and how it has contributed to 1 in every 99 males with autism go to this link. Our government and physicans are not giving you the truth behind flu shots and most vaccines.
http://www.autismwebsite.com/ARI/vaccine/mercurydetox.htm