{
  "id": 8281772,
  "title": "How a single viral protein hijacks immune cells to supercharge COVID-19 infection",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/18/how-a-single-viral-protein-hijacks-immune-cells-to-supercharge-covid",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-09-18T18:00:08.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Medical Xpress",
    "slug": "medical-xpress",
    "url": "https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-viral-protein-hijacks-immune-cells.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "In the sickest COVID-19 patients, SARS-CoV-2 doesn't just cause severe damage by directly infecting airway cells. The virus can also trigger hyperinflammation—a cycle in which immune cells themselves become infected, stop fighting the virus and instead trigger high levels of inflammation throughout the lungs.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}