Drug brings hope for a universal flu vaccine - health - 27 October 2007 - New Scientist

Drug brings hope for a universal flu vaccine - health - 27 October 2007 - New Scientist

Ordinary flu vaccine contains dead influenza A viruses from the H1 and H3 families. When the researchers put this, plus the RNA-like drug Ampligen, into the noses of mice, the mice made antibodies not only to the vaccine viruses but also to H5N1 bird flu - without ever having been exposed to it. Better, when groups of nasally vaccinated mice were exposed to different strains of live H5N1, [at least half] of each group survived... The team think antibodies in mucus reacting with proteins in the virus could be key.