Virus does away with 'cap' in our cells to give us flu

European scientists said yesterday they had uncovered how the influenza virus is able to take over human cells and use them as machinery to replicate itself.

In a paper published in the British-based journal Nature, the researchers said they had identified a tiny piece of a viral enzyme that does the stealth work and may now become a blocking target for drug designers.

They zoomed in on an enzyme called polymerase, which steers the cell's own organs to crank out viral proteins.