Discovery could bring end to annual flu shot

February 23, 2009 Researchers are reporting that they have found one pocket of the flu virus that appears to remain static in the multiple strains found around the world every year.

If the research stands up to further testing, the flu vaccine might one day be more like the shots given to ward off measles, mumps and polio. Children and adults would be inoculated once in their lives and have a universal shield against the various strains that hopscotch across the world, even the much feared bird flu.

The vaccine is years off but scientists have begun animal testing to see if it works.

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