“Flu shot ‘back-boost’ discovery may change the way vaccines are made”
By: Karen Kaplan
Source: Karen Kaplan
It is that time of year again! It is flu season! Many are preparing to have their flu shots expecting for it to protect them from exposure to
the three strains of influenza virus. A new study has shown that the shots
prime a person’s immune system to defeat a much broader range of flu viruses,
and it has been tweaked to make it work even better. Every year five to ten
percent of adults and twenty to thirty percent of kids around the world become
sick with the flu. For the majority this means that the person has a fever,
cough, runny nose, headache, and pain in the muscles and joints. In 3 million
to 5 million cases, the flu can cause more severe illnesses that include death.
This is why virologists put so much time and effort in developing new vaccines.
It contains samples of weakened or deactivated viruses, enough to make the
immune system start working and to create antibodies. That way if someone
encounters a real flu virus, the body will be prepared to fight it. The
influenza is a risky virus. There are three main types A, B, and C, and a lot
of subtypes. These strains momentarily change. WHO and U.S. Centers of Disease
Control and Prevention are public health agencies that track the ones
circulating in people and make their best guess about the three or four
versions that are most likely to cause infection. Once they are detected they
put those strains in the flu shot. A research team found that the flu shot
prompts the body to make antibodies against all of the flu viruses a person has
encountered. If someone only has been shot with one vaccine that is not enough.
In order for the flu shot to work, the immune system needs to respond.
Researchers came up with the phenomenon “back-boost”. Their first sign of
existence came from studying blood samples of sixty nine people. All had given
blood samples. None of these testers had gotten flu shots, but were exposed to
the flu. Researchers made “antibody landscape” that depict the relationships
among various flu strains. These landscapes showed that the strongest immune
system response were the flu viruses that that circulated people about six
years. The older the virus, the bigger the response.
This article is important to read because it informs the
audience how there are many viruses and how it can be affected. Flu shots are
important to get because it can protect someone from getting infected. When flu
season starts make sure to have your flu shots done!
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