Fighting Flu This Winter

Our Health Writer, Colleen Shannon, talks to expert Dr Johannes Michiel Luteijn.

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FLU is always in the news at this time of year, and the reports might have you wondering if we are in for a bad flu season and whether it is worthwhile getting your annual jab.

So I went looking for an independent expert on the science of influenza to bring us up to date. Dr Johannes Michiel Luteijn, honorary post-doctoral research assistant at Queen Mary University of London, kindly explained the system behind our annual vaccines.

He told me that many different strains of the flu virus are circulating at any one time. And new strains are always popping up, because the virus constantly changes (mutates).

So each year, the World Health Organization (WHO) must decide which flu strains are most likely to dominate, and then recommend a vaccine to match its predictions. This ever-moving target is the reason why we’re advised to get a new flu jab every year.