Though the COVID-19 pandemic provided a brief respite, influenza virus is back in circulation and, as usual, poses a special danger to people over the age of 65. But why are older people more susceptible to the flu? New research from the U-M Medical School, published in Nature Communications, offers clues. The study, led by first author Judy Chen, a Ph.D. candidate, senior author Daniel Goldstein, M.D., the Eliza Maria Mosher Collegiate Professor in Internal Medicine and Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, and their team investigates why cells called alveolar macrophages, the first line of defense in the lungs, appear to be compromised with age. These macrophages are immune cells that attack invaders like the flu virus and live in the small air sacs, or alveoli, inside the lungs. Importantly, these cells appear to be lost with aging.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/11/221110114308.htm

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