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Second Sight
10 October 2015

Second Sight

It’s not your typical Ebola image. Most pictures show one virus particle, or virion, looking like a piece of string with loops at one end. But such pictures don’t tell you how it wreaks havoc. Here, hundreds of virions (blue) are bursting out of an infected cell (yellow), which will soon shrivel and die while the virions go on to infect more cells. Ebola targets cells of the immune system. Once inside it hijacks machinery ordinarily used to copy DNA and, like all viruses, it uses this machinery to make copies of itself. These copies eventually burst from the cells, continuing the cycle. Infected cells also release proteins that cause small blood clots and damage blood vessels, making them leak; blood ultimately flows out of the ears, nose and other orifices. Patients also vomit, and all of these fluids contain high numbers of virions, making Ebola highly contagious.

Written by Deborah Oakley

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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