The swine flu is type A, but so are many seasonal flu strains.
The new technology, a microchip covered with bits of genetic material from many different flu strains, cuts the typical time needed for diagnosis of the A(H5N1) flu to less than a day from a week or more.
In beating a bout of H1N1 the body makes antibodies that can kill many other flu strains, a study in the Journal of Experimental Medicine shows.
One key problem from the outset was deciding which antibody to make, because there are many different flu strains; a one-size-fits-all solution would be ideal.
Unlike many flu viruses, this strain spreads beyond the lungs, infecting the heart, brain, and other organs.
If there are any such formulations sufficiently advanced, we could also add to the list of variables a "universal" flu vaccine, the holy grail of flu prevention: a vaccine that would target a part of the virus that remains unchanged among different strains in spite of new mutations, so that a vaccination could protect against even novel strains for many flu seasons.
Scientists suspect that a recently discovered protein called PB1-F2, whish is found in many flu viruses, including the H5N1 bird flu strain that has killed 202 people, may hold some answers.
While there is "a long global history" of testing humans in many countries to see how human flu strains shift each year, there are "major gaps" in testing pigs, Dr. Bridges said.
What's new this year, says Dr. Michael Jhung, medical officer at the CDC, is that many flu shots will immunize against four strains of the flu virus for the first time, an improved protection over years past.
