Researchers warn: Bacterial hotspots on microplastics in the sea
Created: 12/13/2022 3:03 p.m
By: Ulrike Hagen
Microplastics in the sea seem to be the ideal breeding ground for bacteria.
Researchers have now discovered pathogens that can be dangerous to humans.
Paris – Microplastic in itself is already a huge problem: It contaminates seas, rivers and soil, and due to its small size it literally gets everywhere.
The plastic particles can be detected in the blood, stomach and lungs;
Recently, microplastics have even been found in breast milk.
The discovery by French scientists is all the more disturbing: They were able to prove that tiny microfibers are a floating home for countless strains of bacteria, including vibrios - pathogens that can be life-threatening for humans, as reported by
kreiszeitung.de
.
Researchers discover dangerous bacteria on the microplastics in the sea.
If you ingest these, there is a risk of gastrointestinal inflammation.
(Iconic image) © Alex Skopje/imago
Researchers warn: Floating bacterial islands on microplastics in the sea
According to the study, published in the journal
Plos One,
oceanographer Ana Luzia de Figueiredo Lacerda of the Sorbonne University in Paris and her colleagues collected water samples from the Mediterranean Sea near the southern French coast.
With the help of DNA sequencing and modern microscopy technology, they identified the types of bacteria living on the microplastic fibers in the seawater.
There were quite a few.
Australian researchers had already proven that microplastics are also a convenient way of traveling for dangerous viruses.
What are microfibers?
Microfibers are tiny particles - thinner than a human hair - that are released when our clothes are washed from both natural and synthetic textiles.
Microfibers made from synthetic materials are nothing more than microplastics
and ultimately end up in the sea, just like the tiny plastic beads from cosmetic products or residues from plastic packaging.
More than a third of the microplastics in the sea consists of synthetic fibers from fleece jackets, sportswear and T-shirts that come off when washed.
They are not degraded by natural processes and remain in circulation for hundreds of years.
According to a recent study, around 4.3 billion microfibers get into the sea every day from a French sewage treatment plant alone.
Experts identify almost 200 strains of bacteria on the tiny plastic fibers
In their investigations, the French scientists discovered that each fiber harbors an average of more than 2,600 bacterial cells from 195 different types of bacteria.
One of the identified species, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, is considered to be the cause of bacterial gastroenteritis, i.e. a gastrointestinal inflammation that people can also get from eating shellfish or seafood.
Scientists find dangerous vibrios on microfibers in seawater
The fact that vibrios are in sea water is nothing new.
They multiply naturally, especially at high temperatures and water temperatures above 20 degrees, and can thus become life-threatening for people: Dangerous infections with vibrios were also confirmed in the Baltic Sea last summer.
Alarming Evidence: Microfibers enter the food chain
Nevertheless, the evidence of the French research team is alarming.
Because the pathogens on the microfibers floating in the Mediterranean become part of the maritime food chain with the fibers.
This means: They are taken in by fish and other sea creatures.
This could also be relevant for the consumption of fish.
Especially since the microplastic problem is getting worse.
Meta-studies by the Alfred-Wegener-Institute (AWI) in Bremerhaven provided a frightening balance of plastic waste in the sea - a quadrupling.
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"The permeation of the ocean with plastic is irreversible," explains Heike Vesper, head of the marine protection department at WWF Germany.
“Once it has been distributed in the sea, plastic waste can hardly be retrieved.
It is constantly decomposing, so the concentration of micro- and nanoplastics will continue to increase for decades to come.”
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However, increasing pollution in heavily populated coastal areas and rising sea temperatures due to climate change could exacerbate the problem.
Previous research has shown that higher water temperatures make it easier for bacteria to adhere to plastics, making vibrios more contagious.
“We need to rethink the way we are moving as a society.
Plastic pollution and climate change are not only an environmental problem, but also a social problem,” warns French scientist and study leader Lacerda in the
New Scientist.
