The author likens the image (of the cells under his microscope) to the face of Medusa. Why does the author use this analogy and how does it fit?

"They were white cobras tangled among themselves, like the hair of Medusa.

They were face of Nature herself, the obscene goddess revealed naked.

This thing was breathtakingly beautiful. As he stared at it, he found himself being pulled out of the human world into a world where moral boundaries blur and finally dissolve completely. He was lost in wonder and admiration, even though he knew that he was the prey."

The analogy fits because Medusa was as deadly as the virus.