Last year was a lousy year for the flu vaccine. Hospitalizations for flu hit a nine-year high, and the vaccine prevented flu in only 23% of all recipients, compared with 50% to 60% of recipients in prior years.
Why does the flu vaccine work well in some winters and not others? The flu vaccine primes the immune system to attack two proteins on the surface of the influenza A virus, hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N). Different flu strains have different combinations of these proteins — for example, the strains targeted by recent flu vaccines are H3N2 and H1N1.
Unfortunately, the influenza virus is microbiology’s answer to Miley Cyrus: it can change enough in just one year to become completely unrecognizable. The H and N proteins are genetic chameleons that undergo constant transformation. This process is called antigenic drift, and it regularly flummoxes vaccine makers, public health experts, and your immune system.
Last year was a lousy year for the flu vaccine. Hospitalizations for flu hit a nine-year high, and the vaccine prevented flu in only 23% of all recipients, compared with 50% to 60% of recipients in prior years.Why does the flu vaccine work well in some winters and not others? The flu vaccine primes the immune system to attack two proteins on the surface of the influenza A virus, hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N). Different flu strains have different combinations of these proteins — for example, the strains targeted by recent flu vaccines are H3N2 and H1N1.Unfortunately, the influenza virus is microbiology’s answer to Miley Cyrus: it can change enough in just one year to become completely unrecognizable. The H and N proteins are genetic chameleons that undergo constant transformation. This process is called antigenic drift, and it regularly flummoxes vaccine makers, public health experts, and your immune system.
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