Target for flu virus discovered

Researchers in the USA have identified a potential new target for treating a major flu virus.

Influenza A is the virus that causes the outbreaks of seasonal flu that affect millions of people each year. As the viruses responsible for outbreaks are becoming more resistant to the drugs currently in use, researchers are currently trying to learn more about how the viruses attack the body to find new areas that drugs could target.

In the study, published in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, the researchers have uncovered new findings about how the virus enters the body and the body’s response.  

The researchers found that, when influenza A enters a human cell, the body launches an attack that aims to stop the virus from duplicating itself and spreading in the body. The research also revealed how the virus counters this reaction by producing a substance known as a protein to block the body’s natural defense system.  

The researchers concluded that further study of this protein from the virus mechanisms involved in this process could lead the way to the development of new anti-flu drugs.

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