Flesh-eating bacteria living in the seaweed blobs landing on Florida beaches
Even if you don’t live in the Sunshine State, you’ve probably heard about that humongous blob of seaweed choking the ocean waters and hitting the Florida beaches. At first, we were told that it would be a major inconvenience, that the Sargassum (seaweed) would get pretty stinky once it got on to the beach, and that it’d be best not to play around with it. Now we’re hearing that the seaweed is loaded with flesh eating bacteria.
We can thank our friends at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) for sharing a new study which determined that plastic marine debris and flesh-eating bacteria (a.k.a. Vibrio bacteria) that co-exist inside the seaweed are producing the perfect ‘pathogen’ storm that affects both marine life and public health.
Vibrio bacteria are found in waters around the world and are the dominant cause of death in humans from the marine environment. For example, Vibrio vulnificus, sometimes referred to as flesh-eating bacteria, can cause life-threatening foodborne illnesses from seafood consumption as well as disease and death from open wound infections. ~ FAU
The new study claims that the presence of the vibrio bacteria is the primary cause of death in humans from the marine environment that’s found in the sargassum seaweed, according to CBS-12 News in Florida.
The flesh eating bacteria is especially life-threatening when consuming contaminated seafood. That toxic bacteria will enter and live in the intestines of fish that nibble on the contaminated seaweed and then get passed along to anyone eating the infected seafood. And there is also the real danger of disease and death when open wound infections are exposed to that deadly bacteria.
Researchers of the FAU study say that once the seaweed gets beached and dries out, it presents an even greater health risk, “especially to animals.”
“When the seaweed starts drying, stay on the shore of the vibrio numbers even go up more, and feeding this to an animal directly without some kind of sanitation process could be a bad idea,” writes one of the research authors.
Florida health department officials aren’t saying to stay away from the beaches this summer, just be informed, and be careful. Floridians are accustomed to forging a path through the rotten-egg smelling sargassum after it lands on the beach. But these days, with the seaweed providing a home for the vibrio bacteria – you really shouldn’t be touching it.
Science Alert shared that:
Until we know the risks, researchers warn that Sargassum seaweed should not be touched.
“I don’t think at this point, anyone has really considered these microbes and their capability to cause infections.” “We really want to make the public aware of these associated risks.” The study was published in Water Research.
The video below shows those huge blobs of seaweed threatening Florida.
(Cover seaweed photo: Image credit: Twitter)
Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Follow Richard on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram
