"Get Ready, Some Medical Experts Are Predicting The Worst Flu Season In History" - Bob Woods
Medical experts in the United States are worried that this year's flu season could be a nasty one that may be lethal. That's because this year's main flu strain, the influenza A virus, known as H3N2, is worse than the swine flu in 2009. This year's H3N2 sickened over 215,000 as the illness has hit our shores. Its' a situation that has led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to do a collaborative study with global health partners in an effort to make addressing the situation a global priority. The definition of a universal flu vaccine is somewhat flexible. Ideally, a single injection would protect against all known and emerging influenza A strains and last a lifetime, said Peter Palese, PhD, professor and chair of microbiology, professor of medicine and infectious diseases at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. More modest proposals envision a one-shot vaccine that would protect against getting the flu for anyone from three to 20 years. Dr. Palese's laboratory is one of three different research groups at Mount Sinai exploring a universal flu vaccine and one of numerous efforts under way mostly in academia, biotech firms, and NIH. Dr. Palese's team has developed a universal flu vaccine that is now in the first phase of testing in humans. "What changes in the influenza virus from year to year is the hemagglutinin, which is the major protein against which we make an immune response," said Dr. Palese.
- Peter Palese, PhD, Professor, Chair, Microbiology, Professor, Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
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