What Does the Hepatitis C Virus Look Like?
What Does the Hepatitis C Virus Look Like?Answer: The hepatitis C virus is so small (30 to 60 nanometers in diameter) that millions of them could fit onto the head of a pin. Many viruses, and especially hepatitis C viruses, cannot be seen using a light microscope because they are smaller than the wavelength of visible light. However, scientists have other ways of knowing what the hepatitis C virus probably looks like. If you could enlarge a hepatitis C virion enough to really see it well, it would appear spherical and covered with spikes, which are called E proteins. There are two types of E proteins (E1 and E2), named so because they protrude through the virus’s envelope, or the outer covering. Beneath this envelope is the core of the virus, which contains its genetic material, RNA (ribonucleic acid). Because the virus has a RNA-based genome (as compared to the more stable DNA-based genome), it is more prone to mutation. This mutation in the virus’s genetic code directly contributes t
