Flu viruses are made to maneuver by way of mucus

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Proteins on the skin of influenza A viruses are key to breaching our our bodies’ mucus limitations

Kateryna Kon/Science Photograph Library

Earlier than viruses can infect cells, they have to first get to them, usually by traversing layers of the physique’s protecting mucus. Understanding how evolution optimised the influenza A virus for this slimy job may assist us create new antiviral medication.

In the event you simply dropped an influenza A virus into mucus, pure diffusion would by no means carry it to cells quick sufficient to trigger an an infection, says Siddhansh Agarwal on the College of California, Berkeley. Influenza A viruses – the one influenza…

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