Can almost tell the influencer has a virus (9)
I believe the answer is:
influenza
'can almost' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how they can define each other.
'tell the influencer has a virus' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'a' is present in the answer.
'virus' could be 'flu' (influenza) and 'flu' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for influenza that I've seen before include "Viral infection" , "Winter virus disease, even birds get it" , "Respiratory complaint" , "Viral complaint" , "Nasty viral disease, usually of winter" .)