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Science Australian researchers test improved flu vaccine
Science Australian researchers test improved flu vaccine | Australian researchers test improved flu vaccine |
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| by William Atkins | |
| Friday, 25 April 2008 | |
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The lead scientist on this research project is Nikolai Petrovsky , the director of diabetes and endocrinology at Flinders Medical Center (FMC) in Adelaide, South Australia. Currently, one thousand people—who are over the age of sixty years or have medical problems (such as diabetes, chronic lung disease) that make them vulnerable to the flu—are in the final stages of being tested with the vaccine. Earlier, two hundred healthy subjects were tested with the vaccine. At that time, Petrovsky stated that the vaccine was found to be “… not only safe and well tolerated, but also very effective in terms of improving the ability of the vaccine to induce immunity towards the flu virus.” [The age.com.au: “Adelaide hospital to trial flu vaccine”] The vaccine contains a natural plant sugar, which is a new ingredient over older flu vaccines. The FMC researchers state that the sugar is used to signal the immune system to produce more antibodies to counteract the vaccine's antigen. The plant sugar is derived from the daisy family, but is also found in high concentrations within dahlias and chicory, and in low concentrations in root vegetables. Petrovsky states that the sugar was added in order to dramatically increase “… the effectiveness of the current vaccine by orders of magnitude, it just makes it dramatically better.” [ABC News] He adds, "So obviously this trial is to prove that very point that if you have the new vaccine you get much better protection.” [ABC News] And, Petrovsky concludes, "That would have a really big impact globally on people having to go to hospital or in fact dying from flu infections so if this trial is positive as we hope it is then it will certainly have global implications." [ABC News: “Double strength flu vaccine trialed”] Petrovsky hopes that if the vaccine is successful, it will supplement the existing (and future) supplies of flu vaccines around the world, allowing the medical community to better protect the health of its patients.
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