in the book im reading, The Hot Zone, which is a true story about an outbreak of a terrible disease in washington, that happened in the 80's, it states when one of the characters is testing blood for the virus Ebola, if the blood does have the virus in it, it will glow during the test, i was wondering if anyone knew why the blood or cells or whatever they are referring to, would "glow"? some kind of chemical reaction? thanks Hot Zone is one of the best books I have read. You should also read Demon in the Freezer, which is about small pox. Still written by Richard Preston
Anyway, to answer your question. An antibody solution is added via pipette to the infected cells. The antibody serum is made up of antibodies from people that have survived from Ebola. Because the antibodies are the glowing agents, when the antigen, in this case the Ebola virus, comes in contact with the antibodies, the antibodies swarm the Ebola virus.It does this because the infected cells are presenting a signal that is specific to the antibodies in the serum, causing it to glow. If it was not Ebola, and some other virus, the antibodies would not swarm the Ebola infected cells.
At least,that is how I interpreted it |
