Portuguese researchers are testing ways to block the influenza A virus before it causes infection, which could pave the way for new antiviral drugs for several viruses against which there are still no vaccines.

"If the methodology we are developing works for the influenza virus, it is possible that it will also work for other viruses," said Maria João Amorim, researcher and deputy director of the Biomedical Research Center at the Católica Medical School.

The deputy director of the center, who leads the team working on this project, told the Lusa news agency that the research could be useful for several infectious diseases for which there are still no vaccines available, and treatment is done with antivirals, such as HIV, Zika and Herpes simplex, and hemorrhagic viruses such as Nipah, Marburg or Lassa.

According to a professor at the Católica Medical School, the genome of the influenza virus, unlike SARS-CoV-2, for example, is divided into eight different parts.

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