Why most flu infections fizzle: Fluorescent imaging shows transcription is a key bottleneck
Medical Xpress
February 17, 2026
For the first time, scientists have been able to watch the flu virus live as it infects human airway cells. They developed a new technique which makes the viral genetic material light up under the microscope. By tracking the virus throughout the steps of its life cycle, the researchers found out that only a minority of flu infections is successful. This is mostly due to errors in reading out the viral genetic material.
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Originally published on Medical Xpress on 2/17/2026