WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Researchers in the U.S. are working on an experimental mRNA vaccine which could help to fight H5N1 avian flu, preventing the illness from spreading further.
'The mRNA technology allows us to be much more agile in developing vaccines; we can start creating a mRNA vaccine within hours of sequencing a new viral strain with pandemic potential,' explained senior researcher Scott Hensley, a professor of microbiology at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine.
'During previous influenza pandemics, like the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, vaccines were difficult to manufacture and did not become available until after the initial pandemic waves subsided,' Hensley added.
Previously, bird flu vaccines were made by injecting fertilized chicken eggs with flu strains, which scientists believed to be a dominant strain. They then let the virus replicate in the egg, before inactivating it and using it as a flu shot.
However, the latest vaccine is created by developing a mRNA molecule from the DNA sequence of the virus, which is later injected to produce a protein to trigger an immune response against the virus, according to the report published in the journal Nature Communications.
Researchers claimed that the experimental vaccine triggered a strong immune response in lab animals, suffering fewer symptoms than the unvaccinated animals.
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