SCIENTISTS at two Oxford centres are working on vaccines for swine flu as seven people in Wiltshire were waiting to discover if they had contracted the disease.

Dr Sarah Gilbert at Oxford University’s Jenner Institute is working on a vaccine for all strains of flu — including swine flu — with a single jab for life, while Prof Elspeth Garman at the Department of Biochemistry is working on a drug to attack the structure of the virus.

The two departments were looking at how to tackle the virus after 152 deaths in Mexico were linked to the disease and cases had been confirmed in the United States, Britain, Spain, New Zealand and Israel.

While existing vaccines only target surface proteins, which constantly mutate, Dr Gilbert’s vaccine targets the virus’s internal proteins — which do not change.

She said: “We will shortly test the vaccine giving it to 12 patients and not giving it to another 12, but the development could be accelerated because of swine flu.”

Prof Garman said she planned to use the £260m Diamond Light Source at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Harwell to examine the N protein in the new swine flu virus (H1N1).

She said: “The existing drugs, Tamiflu and Relenza, lock the N protein in the infected cell and prevent it from spreading. Luckily the swine flu is apparently able to be contained by Tamiflu.”

However she added it was easier to catch than bird flu.

Dr Gilbert said no one yet knew why swine flu appeared to be more deadly in Mexico compared to other parts of the world.

She added: “It could have mutated downwards and become less deadly as it travelled or the recorded cases in Mexico could have been the tip of an iceberg, with many more unreported cases having been less bad.”

Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust said there had been no confirmed cases in Oxfordshire, but refused to say whether anyone in the county had been tested for the virus.

Spokesman Annika Howard said: “We have been working with other organisations across the region to ensure our systems and processes are robust in the event of a flu pandemic.

“We have a tried and tested plan in place in the event a flu pandemic is declared.”

Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals spokesman Elika Saedi added: “We are confident if the situation calls for it we will be able to cope.”

However, Ms Saedi urged people who had flu-like symptoms to stay indoors and call NHS Direct on 0845 4647.

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