They discover a'shield' that the body uses to protect itself from some viruses such as Zika or the dengue virus. Key is in a molecule located on the surface of extracellular vesicles that are present in fluids such as saliva and that are capable of blocking infection by this type of virus.
Their role has been uncovered by a team of researchers led by Janis A. Müller, from the Institute of Molecular Virology at the University of Ulm (Germany), who details the details of their research in the latest issue of Nature Microbiology.