When I first saw this photomicrograph of Haemophilus influenzae via immunofluorescence, I thought of the opening days of the first Gulf War, when CNN showed wall to wall images of the bombing of Baghdad. The crude nightvision technologies available at the time rendered everything in that green/black/white style very reminiscent of the Apple II E I had as a child.
While not nearly as deadly as an out & out UN air-war, Haemophilus influenzae can infect immuno-suppressed individuals, causing bacteremia, pneumonia, and acute bacterial meningitis.
Interestingly enough, H. influenzae was the first free-living organism to have its entire genome sequenced, in 1995.
