Electron Microscopic Images of HIV
Here are some of the images obtained via the electron microscope along with some of the relevant information.
This scanning electron microscopic (SEM) image revealed the presence of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1), which had been co-cultivated with human lymphocytes. Note the lymphocyte in the lower left, and some of its extended pseudopodia. HIV-1 virions can be seen on the surface of this lymphocyte.
A retrovirus, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) was identified in 1983 as the pathogen responsible for the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). AIDS is characterized by changes in the population of T-cell lymphocytes that play a key role in the immune defense system. In the infected individual, the virus causes a depletion of T-cells, called “T-helper cells”, which leaves these patients susceptible to opportunistic infections, and certain malignancies.
Learn more about HIV and AIDS : HIV and its Progression to AIDS
This thin-section transmission electron microscopic (TEM) image depicted the ultrastructural details of a number of ”human immunodeficiency virus” (HIV) virus particles, or virions. A member of the genus Lentivirus, HIV is separated into two serotypes, HIV-1 and HIV-2, and is the cause of the disease known as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS. This virus may be passed from one person to another when infected blood, semen, or vaginal secretions come in contact with an uninfected person’s broken skin or mucous membranes. In addition, infected pregnant women can pass HIV to their baby during pregnancy or delivery, as well as through breast-feeding. People with HIV have what is called HIV infection. Some of these people will develop AIDS as a result of their HIV infection.
This TEM image depicts a single HIV, as it was budding from a human immune cell, which the virus infects, and within which the HIV virus replicates itself.
HIV is the virus that can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or AIDS. Unlike some other viruses, the human body cannot get rid of HIV. That means that once you have HIV, you have it for life.
HIV is a virus spread through body fluids that affect specific cells of the immune system, called CD4 cells, or T-cells. Over time, HIV can destroy so many of these cells that the body can’t fight off infections and disease. When this happens, HIV infection leads to AIDS. Learn more about the stages of HIV and how to tell whether you’re infected.
Source: CDC-PHIL
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