A team of scientists at the University of Alberta say they may have developed a formula that could become a vaccine for hepatitis C -- a virus that afflicts nearly 200 million people around the world.

While any commercially available vaccine is still years away, the researchers say they have created an experimental treatment that shows promising signs of becoming a relatively simple way of stopping the virus.

In a Phase 1 study, scientists gave 60 healthy people the experimental vaccine, and then took blood samples from those subjects. The samples were then exposed to blood from the different strains of hepatitis C known to be circulating the globe.

What they found is that their vaccine blocked every strain of the virus -- something that the researchers say has never been done before.

Though vaccines exist for hepatitis A and B, development of a hepatitis C vaccine has presented unique challenges. There are six major strains of hepatitis C, and the virus often shifts, making it difficult to design a vaccine. In fact, many scientists have believed that creating a catch-all vaccine is impossible.

"It is an unexpected finding," said researcher Michael Houghton, who works in the University of Alberta's Department of Microbiology and Immunology.

"It is the first time anyone has shown that in a clinical trial."

Equally, Houghton said that the findings are important because they show that creating a vaccine in the future is indeed possible.

"This is an urgent requirement and our data is telling us we are on the right track."

Infectious disease specialist Neil Rau says that while signs are encouraging, there are still years of study to learn whether the vaccine stops infection in people -- and not just in lab dishes.

"I think we are looking at 10 years longer before a success story can happen here," he said.

The findings were presented at a recent meeting in Vancouver sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

It's believed that hepatitis C affects 170 million people around the world, with an estimated 500,000 of those living in Canada. The virus causes fatigue, nausea, and it can fatally damage the liver.

Treating the virus can be expensive and typically requires a year of treatment that causes severe side-effects. Additionally, the treatment is generally only effective in about half of patients.

The researchers are hoping to begin clinical trials in Canada, with a delivery to the mass public still years away.

With a report from CTV's medical specialist Avis Favaro and producer Elizabeth St. Philip