BETHESDA, Maryland: This week, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) said that it started early-stage human trials on FluMos-v2, its experimental vaccine targeting six strains of the influenza virus.

The institute said it developed FluMos-v2 to offer protection against four strains of the influenza A virus and two strains of the influenza B virus.

"An ideal universal influenza vaccine could be taken less frequently than once a year and protect against multiple strains of influenza virus. With each new universal influenza vaccine candidate and clinical trial, we take another step closer to that goal," said Hugh Auchincloss, acting director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the NIH.

The institute announced that the study will enroll 24 healthy volunteers aged between 18 and 50, who will receive two intramuscular injections of FluMos-v2 at a gap of 16 weeks.

FluMos-v2 has been designed by researchers at NIAID's Vaccine Research Center.