![Much of the funding and research on the flu is focused on developing a universal vaccine that would target parts of the virus that can't mutate. But real progress on that front is up to 10 years away, doctors and researchers say. [Associated Press (2015)]](https://www.tampabay.com/storyimage/HI/20180313/ARTICLE/303139975/AR/0/AR-303139975.jpg?MaxW=950&cachebuster=864889)
By Justine Griffin for the Tampa Bay Times
This year’s particularly nasty flu season has doctors and researchers worried about what’s ahead.
Though the number of outbreaks in Florida has declined in recent days, the first six weeks of 2018 saw soaring numbers of flu patients in emergency rooms, urgent care clinics and doctors’ offices — and at rates that far exceeded the last three years. More people than expected died from influenza and pneumonia, including six children. And this year’s shot was only 36 percent effective against the two main flu strains, compared to 40 to 60 percent in past seasons.
Does this mean it’s going to keep getting worse? Will we ever be able to stop it? What is the future of the flu?
The answers are a decade away at best, some researchers say.
“The one thing about flu that you can count on, is that it will be unpredictable,” said Dr. Nicole Marie Iovine, a physician and professor at the University of Florida who specializes in infectious diseases. Iovine said UF Health in Gainesville saw twice as many positive cases of the flu this year than the last busy season in 2014-15.
“The reason that the flu vaccine doesn’t protect us more right now is because the virus is like a moving target,” she said. “It’s mutating constantly, to the point that the common strains we see at the beginning of the season will be different from the ones we see at the end of the season. If you caught the flu last year, you could catch the same strain again this year, because at the molecular level, it’s not really the same virus at all.”