Influenza type A over time changes the genetic structure, which allows it to avoid antibodies produced in the human body.

The current goal of the researchers is a vaccine that will provide protection against multiple strains of the virus simultaneously.

This was told by the staff of the School of Medicine Mount Sinai in New York.

In the publication Science Translational Medicine, scientists wrote about how this vaccine will look - it will combine the effects of the immune system on many strains of the virus for several years. This is possible thanks to the blood samples stored in the laboratories of people who survived the different influenza pandemics - H2N2, H3N2 and H1N1.

People exposed to antigenically distant strains have a high level of universal antibodies in the blood that have a "broad effect" - they are aimed at parts of the viral antigen that do not change very much. It is interesting that the titer of such antibodies was initially small, but after a time after the illness it grew.

In contrast, repeated exposure to a more stable pathogen, such as cytomegalovirus, does not lead to a sharp increase in the level of antibodies.

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