Influenza viruses initiate infection in the upper respiratory tract (URT), but early viral tropism and the importance of cell-type-specific antiviral responses in this tissue remain incompletely understood. By infecting transgenic lox-stop-lox reporter mice with a Cre-recombinase-expressing influenza B virus, we identify olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) as a major viral cell target in the URT. These cells become infected, then eliminate the virus and survive in the host post-resolution of infection. OSN responses to infection are characterized by a strong induction of interferon-stimulated genes and more rapid clearance of viral protein relative to other cells in the epithelium. We speculate that this cell-type-specific response likely serves to protect the central nervous system from infection. More broadly, these results highlight the importance of evaluating antiviral responses across different cell types, even those within the same tissue, to more fully understand the mechanisms of viral disease.

流感病毒会在上呼吸道（URT）中引发感染，但早期病毒的向性性和该组织中细胞类型特异性抗病毒反应的重要性仍未完全了解。通过用表达Cre-重组酶的B型流感病毒感染转基因lox-stop-lox报告基因小鼠，我们确定嗅觉感觉神经元（OSNs）是URT中的主要病毒细胞靶标。这些细胞被感染，然后消除病毒，并在感染消退后在宿主中存活。OSN对感染的反应的特征在于干扰素刺激基因的强诱导作用，并且相对于上皮细胞中其他细胞，病毒蛋白的清除速度更快。我们推测，这种细胞类型特异性反应可能起到保护中枢神经系统免受感染的作用。更广泛地，