Health officials say this flu season is among the worst in years. The epidemic is hitting Ohio, along with every corner of the country, sending thousands of people to the hospital.
What if there was a way to protect yourself every season without having to get a yearly shot?
“It is a serious disease,” remarked Dr. Susan Rehm, vice chair of infectious disease at Cleveland Clinic. “And every year, somewhere between 4,000 and 40,000 people die of influenza.”
So far this year, those deaths include 30 children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Ohio Department of Health reports three of them have occurred in Ohio.
Adult deaths for this season have not yet been reported.
“We're seeing quite an active season here,” said Dr. Rehm. “I would say proportional to the rest of the country.”
Adding to concerns, this year's flu vaccine is only about 30 percent effective.
“Researchers would like to develop a vaccine that would only have to be given once, and that would be effective against all forms of influenza,” Dr. Rehm explained.
Dr. Rehm says a universal flu vaccine could mean you would only have to get the shot once in a lifetime.
“The universal flu vaccine is the holy grail,” she said. “It would be active against a variety of flu viruses and it would last for a long time.”
It could also be much more effective.
The problem is that the flu strains affecting us change every year, which means the flu vaccine has to change, too. So researchers are looking at genetic properties the strains have in common.
“Scientists need to identify certain parts of the flu virus that confer immunity across a broad range of strains,” noted Dr. Rehm. “And they have some good candidates, but now it's a matter of testing, and that takes time.”
Dr. Rehm says that time would be well spent.
“Assuming that more people got vaccinated, that the vaccine was active against a variety of viruses and that the way that the vaccine works would be better than the current vaccine, it literally could save thousands of lives and hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations,” she said.
According to Dr. Rehn, new ways of administering vaccines are also in the works, including through a patch and potentially bringing the nasal spray back.
