Tiny parasites could be hitchhiking on microplastics floating in the ocean.
Three common germs, Toxoplasma gondii, Giardia, and Cryptosporidium, are more than capable of adhering to synthetic microfibers, according to researchers.
The study is the first to show that a path of transmission is possible.
The authors worry about what their results could mean for animal and human health since fish and shellfish are regular carriers of microplastics.
It is easy for people to dismiss plastic problems as something that doesn't matter for them.
There is more power to implement change once you start talking about disease and health. Microplastics can move germs around, and these germs end up in our water and food.
The University of Davis.
There is a plastic fiber covered with a fuzzy blue biofilm attached to two pathogens.
In order to test the idea, researchers conducted a series of laboratory experiments in which they exposed the organisms to the water.
The World Health Organization has recognized the three pathogens the team chose to study as underestimated causes of illness from shellfish consumption.
Warm-blooded animals, like marine mammals and humans, can be affected by the toxoplasma gondii. The parasites can cause cysts to form in our body.
Giardia can cause disease in our species.
The three germs were found to attach to microplastics in laboratory experiments, but more parasites were found to adhere to polyester microfibers than to polyethylene microbeads.
Human clothing and gear are the main sources of plastic for the former type.
Microplastics have been found to transport pollutants in the marine environment before.
In 2009, studies found that plastic pollution was moving chemicals into the marine environment.
Less focus has been given to biological contaminants.
The great ocean garbage patch was home to a new type of life called the plastiosphere.
Some of the microplastics might sink to the bottom of the ocean. Microplastics are likely to be grabbed by filter-feeding animals that snatch tiny bits of food from the ocean. The effects of the pollutant on the food web could be disastrous.
When plastic is thrown in, it fools the invertebrates.
We need another reason to worry about microplastics.
Scientific Reports published the study.
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