Scientists inch closer to develop long-lasting swine flu vax

Scientists have successfully conducted a long-term experiment with live hogs — a domesticated swine — that may be another step closer to achieving a safe, long-lasting and potentially universal vaccine against swine flu. The results are not only important to the pork industry, they also hold significant implications for human health. That’s because pigs act as “mixing vessels”, where various swine and bird influenza strains can reconfigure and become transmissible to humans. In fact, the 2009 swine flu pandemic, involving a variant of the H1N1 strain, first emerged in swine before infecting about a fourth of the global population in its first year, causing nearly 12,500 deaths in the US and perhaps as many as 575,000 worldwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Considering the significant role swine play in the evolution and transmission of potential pandemic strains of influenza and the substantial economic impact of swine flu viruses, it is imperative that efforts be made toward the development of more effective vaccination strategies in vulnerable pig populations,” said lead author Erika Petro-Turnquist, a doctoral student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, US.