NATIONWIDE — Health officials are urging everyone to get vaccinated against influenza.

This year's flu epidemic is driven by a particularly vicious strain of the virus, H3-N2.

There's currently a race underway to find a universal flu vaccine, that gives a one-time shot of protection against all flu strains.

A team out of UCLA may be close. Researchers at the university believe using a live virus, instead of the dead one used in current vaccines, may be the key to inducing a more intense antibody response. They have tested the vaccine on ferrets and mice. It has not been tested on humans yet.

As flu-related fatalities continue to climb, another study shows just how deadly the flu can be. Published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Canadian researchers have found that a bout of the flu can catapult the risk of heart attack six-fold in the first week after detection.

They looked at nearly 20,000 adults with lab-confirmed flu more than 300 patients suffered heart attacks and were hospitalized within a year of getting the flu.