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Influenza viruses
Viral Structure
The influenza virus has a relatively simple structure. A lipid (fatty) envelope surrounds the protein shell (capsid), which encloses coiled genetic material (RNA). Projecting from this envelope are two kinds of protein spikes, hemagglutinin and neuraminidase. These proteins act as antigens, eliciting an immune response in the organism that the virus invades. Influenza viruses exhibit the unique quality of periodically mutating these protein spikes. Because the viruses continually change, they can cause repeated waves of infection, even among people previously infected.
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