Article

Can plastic pollution drive the emergence and dissemination of novel zoonotic diseases?

Details

Citation

Ormsby MJ, Woodford L & Quilliam RS (2024) Can plastic pollution drive the emergence and dissemination of novel zoonotic diseases?. Environmental Research, 246, Art. No.: 118172. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2024.118172

Abstract
As the volume of plastic in the environment increases, so too does human interactions with plastic pollution. Similarly, domestic, feral, and wild animals are increasingly interacting with plastic pollution, highlighting the potential for contamination of plastic wastes with animal faeces, urine, saliva, and blood. Substantial evidence indicates that once in the environment, plastics rapidly become colonised by microbial biofilm (the so-called ‘plastisphere), which often includes potentially harmful microbial pathogens (including pathogens that are zoonotic in nature). Climate change, increased urbanisation, and the intensification of agriculture, mean that the three-way interactions between humans, animals, and plastic pollution are becoming more frequent, which is significant as almost 60% of emerging human infectious diseases during the last century have been zoonotic. Here, we critically review the potential for contaminated environmental plastics to facilitate the evolution of novel pathogenic strains of microorganisms, and the subsequent role of plastic pollution in the cyclical dissemination of zoonotic pathogens. As the interactions between humans, animals, and plastic pollution continues to grow, and the volume of plastics entering the environment increases, there is clearly an urgent need to better understand the role of plastic waste in facilitating zoonotic pathogen evolution and dissemination, and the effect this can have on environmental and human health.

Keywords
Horizontal gene transfer; Human health; Plastisphere; Waste management; Zoonosis

Journal
Environmental Research: Volume 246

StatusPublished
FundersNatural Environment Research Council, Natural Environment Research Council, NERC Natural Environment Research Council and NERC Natural Environment Research Council
Publication date30/04/2024
Publication date online12/01/2024
Date accepted by journal09/01/2024
URLhttp://hdl.handle.net/1893/35771
PublisherElsevier BV
ISSN0013-9351
eISSN1096-0953

People (2)

Professor Richard Quilliam

Professor Richard Quilliam

Professor, Biological and Environmental Sciences

Dr Luke Woodford

Dr Luke Woodford

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Biological and Environmental Sciences

Projects (2)