by However, they said it was a cause of concern that microbes could be seeded into new environments and that antibiotic-resistance genes could travel in this way.
The study showed the microbes hitched a 1,200-mile (2,000km) ride on dust particles blown from farm fields in north-eastern China to Japan. Similar patterns of winds exist around the world. More than 300 types of bacteria and about 260 types of fungi were found in the samples collected over Tokyo. Other microbes not yet known to science are thought to be present.
Prof Xavier Rodó at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, who led the research team, said: “Around 30-40% of the microbes were potentially pathogenic species, either well-recognised human pathogens or opportunistic pathogens [which affect people with weakened immune systems].”
The study “is a word of caution that we should be changing our view of the air”,
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2404191121
Over 266 different fungal and 305 bacterial genera appeared in the 10 aircraft transects. Actinobacteria, Bacillota, Proteobacteria, and Bacteroidetes phyla dominated the bacteria composition and, for fungi, Ascomycota prevailed over Basidiomycota. Among the pathogenic species identified, human pathogens include bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Serratia marcescens, Prevotella melaninogenica, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus haemolyticus, Staphylococcus saprophyticus, Cutibacterium acnes, Clostridium difficile, Clostridium botulinum, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Shigella sonnei, Haemophillus parainfluenzae and Acinetobacter baumannii and health-relevant fungi such as Malassezia restricta, Malassezia globosa, Candida parapsilosis and Candida zeylanoides, Sarocladium kiliense, Cladosporium halotolerans, and Cladosporium herbarum. Diversity estimates were similar at heights and surface when entrainment of air from high altitudes occurred. Natural antimicrobial-resistant bacteria (ARB) cultured from air samples were found indicating long-distance spread of ARB and microbial viability. This would represent a novel way to disperse both viable human pathogens and resistance genes among distant geographical regions.
