Flu vaccines more effective when sweetened

Scientists in Australia have discovered a simple way of making flu vaccines much more effective.

Researchers at Flinders Medical Centre in Adelaide say a component of the natural sugars in plants could increase the effect of flu vaccines by up to 100 times.

Professor Nikolai Petrovsky, head of the Diabetes and Endocrinology Department says the procedure is safe and boosts the effectiveness of commercial influenza vaccines.

Professor Petrovsky says the natural sugar helps stimulate the human immune system and has the potential to offer much higher protection against influenza-A and to extend vaccine supplies.

He says the method means a much smaller does of vaccine is needed and current stocks of vaccine could be stretched to go a lot further.

The key ingredient in Professor Petrovsky's flu vaccine booster is a plant sugar known as inulin, a staple of some health food products linked to improved immune performance.

Petrovsky's team found a way to convert inulin into crystal form, which they then used as an adjuvant to increase the potency of existing commercial vaccines.

They tested the enhanced vaccine on a range of animals species and found that levels of influenza virus antibodies were as much as 100 times greater than those produced by the standard vaccination.

Professor Petrovsky believes the procedure could work equally well with the avian flu vaccine and that would mean, in the event of a pandemic, that everyone would have access to a vaccine, and not just high risk groups.

Petrovsky says he is living proof that the method works because when he injected himself with the compound, tests showed his immunity to influenza had increased 50-fold.

The hospital is planning clinical trials with humans to establish whether greater protection against seasonal variations in the influenza virus would also be enhanced.

Experts say depending on how virulent predominant influenza strains in circulation are, existing vaccines provide between 50 and 80 per cent protection for healthy adults.

However medical experts have been cautious in their response to the discovery and say the findings have not received peer review as they have yet to be reported in a scientific journal.