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Scientists in USA say they are getting closer to developing vaccine that will provide life-long protection against any type of influenza. This could be welcome news for millions of people around world who go to doctor every year to get flu jab. Two different research teams have been testing new drugs on animals and both have had promising results. Trials will soon begin on humans to determine if test vaccine has similar successes. Flu expert professor John Oxford told BBC that: "This is leap forward compared to anything done recently. They have good animal data, not just in mice but in ferrets and monkeys too." He added that: "It's very good stepping stone."

flu virus kills up to half million people every year. problem with finding vaccine is ever-changing nature of flu virus. It is in constant state of mutation. Doctors have to predict which strains of virus are likely to cause most infections and then create updated version of vaccine accordingly. For this reason, the success rate of most flu vaccines is very low because much of process involves lot of guesswork. Scientists say that vaccines in U.S. reduced risk of catching flu by just 23 per cent last year. The website Inverse.com said research could, "point to how we can go about making vaccines for other viruses that mutate rapidly, like HIV or common cold".