Infectious diseases like AIDS and hepatitis are never pretty. But the pathogens that cause many potentially deadly infections turn out to be absolutely beautiful when viewed under powerful microscopes.

"Nowadays scientists use X-ray crystallography and more recently by cryo-electron microscopy with 3D reconstruction ," Dr. Jean-Yves Sgro, a senior scientist at the University of Wisconsin and an expert on imaging pathogens, told The Huffington Post in an email. "In many cases that means we have an atomic resolution of the virus" that spotlights the pathogens' amazing structure.

Check out 12 visually striking viruses below: