3 ms·

Not to suggest you shouldn't be concerned -- you absolutely should be -- but please note that the language in this article contains a lot of qualifiers, like co

Not to suggest you shouldn't be concerned -- you absolutely should be -- but please note that the language in this article contains a lot of qualifiers, like could and appears to. They don't really know what's going on and so they don't really know if this is all bad news or if there is some silver lining here of some sort, such as a potential means to get rid of plastics in the ocean. That possibility is not unprecedented. We use petroleum-eating microbes to help clean up oil spills in the ocean. Such microbes are typically harmless to humans. (Typically -- with the exception that people with cystic fibrosis sometimes die from infection with them though normal humans almost never get infected. To me, this implies people with CF likely retain petroleum products, including plastics, more than average.)

XorNot 3y ago
The problem with petroleum-eating microbes is that they flood the local area with waste products. That it's no longer petroleum doesn't mean it won't still wipe out the local ecosystem - i.e. how fertilizer run-off destroys estuaries because it triggers an algal bloom which promptly chokes off everything else.
antonvs 3y ago
The difference from petroleum-eating bacteria is that the genus found in these sargassum patches, Vibrio, includes some much more virulent pathogens. These include (1) flesh-eating bacteria, (2) the species which causes cholera, and (3) the species that causes vibriosis, the intestinal illness commonly contracted from undercooked seafood or exposure to seawater. The common factor between cholera and vibriosis is the effect these bacteria have on the human gut, increasing permeability ("leaky gut syndrome"). As such, the Vibrio genus is "the dominant cause of death in humans from the marine environment" (quote from the article's FAU source.) On top of that, sargassum has been increasing due to factors like increasing water temperatures, and large amounts of it end up on beaches or just offshore. It is collected by people in various ways, and even sometimes turned into animal feed. That's not the case with deployments of petroleum-eating bacteria. Sargassum also acts as an important habitat for many kinds of marine life, increasing the number of vectors by which new Vibrio bacteria could come in contact with humans. This all means that the potential for a bad outcome is relatively high, but as for any actual concrete risk currently, as you say that hasn't yet been established.
- sitkack 3y ago
  This paper links Deepwater Horizon and the increase in Vibrio bacteria https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23987095/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23987095/
  - throwaway290 3y ago
    > We hypothesized the 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DH) oil spill would cause an increase in populations of Vibrio parahaemolyticus carrying environmental adaptation genes. ... These results indicate the effects of the DH oil spill on potentially pathogenic Vp subpopulations were complex and difficult to discern from other concurrent anthropogenic and natural events. Seems almost the opposite of what you wrote.

XorNot 3y ago

The problem with petroleum-eating microbes is that they flood the local area with waste products. That it's no longer petroleum doesn't mean it won't still wipe out the local ecosystem - i.e. how fertilizer run-off destroys estuaries because it triggers an algal bloom which promptly chokes off everything else.

antonvs 3y ago

The difference from petroleum-eating bacteria is that the genus found in these sargassum patches, Vibrio, includes some much more virulent pathogens. These include (1) flesh-eating bacteria, (2) the species which causes cholera, and (3) the species that causes vibriosis, the intestinal illness commonly contracted from undercooked seafood or exposure to seawater. The common factor between cholera and vibriosis is the effect these bacteria have on the human gut, increasing permeability ("leaky gut syndrome"). As such, the Vibrio genus is "the dominant cause of death in humans from the marine environment" (quote from the article's FAU source.) On top of that, sargassum has been increasing due to factors like increasing water temperatures, and large amounts of it end up on beaches or just offshore. It is collected by people in various ways, and even sometimes turned into animal feed. That's not the case with deployments of petroleum-eating bacteria. Sargassum also acts as an important habitat for many kinds of marine life, increasing the number of vectors by which new Vibrio bacteria could come in contact with humans. This all means that the potential for a bad outcome is relatively high, but as for any actual concrete risk currently, as you say that hasn't yet been established.

sitkack 3y ago
This paper links Deepwater Horizon and the increase in Vibrio bacteria https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23987095/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23987095/
- throwaway290 3y ago
  > We hypothesized the 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DH) oil spill would cause an increase in populations of Vibrio parahaemolyticus carrying environmental adaptation genes. ... These results indicate the effects of the DH oil spill on potentially pathogenic Vp subpopulations were complex and difficult to discern from other concurrent anthropogenic and natural events. Seems almost the opposite of what you wrote.