Portrait of a Killer?
Is this is a portrait of a virus so important it has its own coat of arms? Nope. The bug in this electron photomicrograph is influenza, a very important microbe. But the coat of arms belongs to The Queen's University of Belfast where this picture was taken. While the ebola and AIDS viruses get much of the ink devoted to deadly viruses, the lowly influenza virus gets seasonal attention at best. Yet influenza is arguably just as important in terms of human health. Over the course of human history, influenza -- flu for short -- has killed tens of millions of people. Hippocrates, the ancient Greek physician, in 412 B.C. was the first to describe a flu epidemic. More serious are pandemics, where new strains spread world wide. Near the end of World War I, a flu pandemic was responsible for the deaths of more than 20 million people around the world. In 1968, more than 50 million cases of influenza were reported in the United States. Scientists think at least 20,000 people in the United States were killed then by this strain -- known as "Hong Kong flu."

Influenza, of course, is just one of many different kinds of viruses. Among the smallest of infectious agents, viruses like our flu bug here can be seen only with the aid of powerful electron microscopes. If you'd like to see more virus family portraits, you can go to Northern Ireland.

These images have been kindly provided by Prof. Stewart McNulty, of the Veterinary Science Department, The Queen's University of Belfast.