Researcher Michael Houghton says that a vaccine against hepatitis C may be just seven years from being a reality and that it is effective against not only the strain of virus it is developed from, but also against other strains. Houghton, who will present his findings to the 11th International Symposium on Viral Hepatitis and Liver Disease in Sydney on Tuesday, noted in an interview that protecting against several strains is important, because the hepatitis C virus "is not only present in many different forms around the world already, but in any one infected patient you regularly get mutations appearing in just one individual." Houghton is the U.S.-based researcher who originally discovered the hepatitis C virus, and his team of researchers recently gained approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to begin a phase I human trial of the vaccine for safety and effectiveness.