New Images of Coronavirus Seen Up Close In Graphic Details Inside Lungs

A higher power magnification image showed the structure and density of SARS-CoV-2 virions produced by human airway epithelia.

Images of SARS-CoV-2 infected cells in the respiratory airways that are very graphic in nature have been published by a team of researchers. The New England Journal of Medicine featured this work in its "Images in Medicine" section.

University of North Carolina School of Medicine researchers had inoculated the new COVID-19 virus into the human bronchial epithelial cells, which were then examined 96 hours later using scanning electron microscopy.

Coronavirus
Coronaviruses infect animals, humans, and birds. Human coronaviruses, such as SARS, MERS, and 2019-nCoV cause respiratory distress and even death. The S protein is the infectious agent of the virus.

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The large viral burden is a source for the spread of infection to multiple organs of an infected individual and likely mediates the high frequency of COVID-19 transmission to others.

The images showed infected ciliated cells with strands of mucus attached to cilia tips. Cilia are the hair-like structures present on the surface of airway epithelial cells that transport mucus (and trapped viruses) from the lung.

The imaging research helps explain the incredibly high number of virions produced and released per cell inside the human respiratory system. Virions are the infectious form of the virus released by infected host cells.

The detailed images make a strong case for the use of the masks by infected and uninfected individuals to limit SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

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