Researchers have now developed antibodies that will protect against many strains of the flu. This includes the 1918 Spanish flu and the H5Ni bird flu. A discovery like this could significantly alter how society attacks influenza.
Experts claim that this breakthrough could usher the process of a flu vaccine that would not have to be altered annually. And they can fight the virus in ways that drugs such as Tamiflu can’t, with the antibodies that are already developed. One researcher estimated that within 3 years, clinical trials will commence to show evidence that the antibodies are safe for people.
On February 22, the study that was performed by researchers from Harvard Medical School, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Burnham Institute for Medical Research, was published in the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.
Although one researcher said that they had found “a viral Achilles heel”, and a flu specialist called it “a big advance in itself, and one that shows what’s possible for other rapidly evolving pathogens,”, Henry Niman, a biochemist who tracks flu mutations is skeptical. He claims that immune systems of humans would have wiped out the flu virus a long time ago if the virus was as weak in one area like the discovery suggests. He also said that it took large amounts of antibodies to protect the mice in the study, which are costly and hard to infuse.