Viruses are able to survive in fresh water by clinging to microscopic pieces of plastic, posing a potential threat to public health, according to a new study.
Researchers found that rotavirus, which causes diarrhea, can remain infectious for up to three days when bound to microplastics. The findings suggest that gastrointestinal viruses found in sewage could enter waterways by attaching to tiny bits of plastic waste.
“Even if a wastewater treatment plant is doing everything it can to clean sewage waste, the water discharged still has microplastics in it, which are then transported down the river, into the estuary, and end up on the beach,” said Richard Quilliam, a professor of environment and health at Stirling University in Scotland and coauthor of the study. “We weren’t sure how well viruses could survive by ‘hitch-hiking’ on plastic in the environment, but they do survive, and they do remain infectious.”
Read more at Yale Environment 360
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