A Clever New Way to Predict Next Year's Flu
A study suggests an unusual strategy to make vaccines more effective.
Flu evolves remarkably fast.
Consider the example of H3N2, one of two major subtypes of flu that cause trouble every winter. In some cases, a single extremely well-adapted variant of the H3N2 virus can replace all other H3N2 viruses on Earth over just a few years. Then once enough humans become immune to it, the whole cycle begins anew.
This constant turnover is why the flu vaccine changes every year. Scientists usually have to predict a flu season’s dominant variants months in advance, so that vaccine manufacturers can make enough doses in against that year’s circulating H3N2 variant.
