British scientists are on a quest to develop a universal flu vaccine. The team from the Imperial College London have a plan to develop a vaccine that can save as many as half a million lives a year.

They used data gathered after the 2009 swine flu outbreak, and the key to the research can be found in immune cells known as CD8 T cells. In a swine flu study, the researchers looked at those who had more CD8 T cells in their blood and found that they experienced less severe symptoms or no symptoms at all.

The new vaccine would instruct the body to produce more of these types of cells.

"It's a blueprint for a vaccine. We know the exact subgroup of the immune system and we've identified the key fragments in the internal core of the virus," Professor Ajit Lalvani, who led the study, told the BBC. "In truth, in this case it is about five years [away from a vaccine]. We have the know-how, we know what needs to be in the vaccine and we can just get on and do it."

Will we finally beat flu? Let's hope so. [BBC]