Universal flu vaccine tests start

The vaccine targets a different part of the virus to the current flu vaccines, and could mean the end of the annual flu jab. This is because this viral segment does not change each year with different circulating flu strains.

Study leader, Dr Sarah Gilbert, said traditional influenza vaccines are designed to prompt an immune response to H and N proteins on the outer shell of the virus. But these proteins are prone to mutation - and every year the vaccine has to be reformulated on the basis of the strains likely to be most prominent.

So instead, the researchers have developed a vaccine on the basis of proteins inside the cell, which are far more similar across different strains.

The vaccine uses an attenuated smallpox virus to carry the proteins into the body, similar to the technique already used for TB and malaria vaccines.

Initially 12 people will be vaccinated to test the dose before further studies are done to check its effectiveness in people exposed to flu.