Colonisation of plastic pellets (nurdles) by E. coli at public bathing beaches

Abstract

The hard surface of waterborne plastic provides an ideal environment for the formation of biofilm by opportunistic microbial colonisers, and could facilitate a novel means of dispersal for microorganisms across coastal and marine environments. Biofilms that colonise the so-called 'plastisphere' could also be a reservoir for faecal indicator organisms (FIOs), such as Escherichia coli, or pathogenic bacteria such as species of Vibrio. Therefore, the aim of this study was to map the spatial distribution of beachcast plastic resin pellets (nurdles) at five public bathing beaches, and quantify their colonisation by E. coli and Vibrio spp. Nurdles were heterogeneously distributed along the high tide mark at all five beaches, and each beach contained nurdles that were colonised by E. coli and Vibrio spp. Knowledge of E. coli colonisation and persistence on nurdles should now be used to inform coastal managers about the additional risks associated with plastic debris.

Microplastic contamination of table salts from Taiwan, including a global review

“…Potential impacts on human health are: (1) accidents; (2) the direct ingestion of microplastic particles (microplastics) via food and the possible resulting internal injury 33–41 ; (3) the indirect contamination of air, food, and water with unhealthy substances leached from the plastics into the environment 2,42–46 ; (4) and microplastics serving as pathogen vectors 32,47 .…”

Total coliform and Escherichia coli in microplastic biofilms grown in wastewater and inactivation by peracetic acid

“…Because biofilm is well known to be more resistant to disinfection than planktonic organisms (Bridier, Briandet, Thomas, & Dubois‐Brissonnet, 2011; Kim, Pitts, Stewart, Camper, & Yoon, 2008; Lee, Kim, Kim, de Lannoy, & Lee, 2020), MP biofilms may allow for wastewater bacteria such as Escherichia coli and other fecal indicator organisms to bypass disinfection at a WWTP, as these organisms are known to form biofilms on natural particles as well as manmade particles (Fux, Costerton, Stewart, & Stoodley, 2005; Miao et al, 2019; Song et al, 2020). This may explain why fecal microbes were observed in MP biofilms far from wastewater effluent outfalls (Rodrigues, Oliver, McCarron, & Quilliam, 2019; Silva et al, 2019). Thus, there is some concern that MPs could serve as a vector for pathogenic microorganisms in the freshwater environment.…”

“…There have been investigations into freshwater MP biofilms with a focus on using sequencing techniques to describe the microbial ecology (Eckert et al, 2018; Miao et al, 2019; Parrish & Fahrenfeld, 2019), biodegradation potential of MP or adsorbed organic compounds (Paço et al, 2017; Park & Kim, 2019; Porter, Wolfson, & Young, 2020), and the prevalence of antibiotic resistance genes and pathogens/pathogen marker genes (Parrish & Fahrenfeld, 2019; Rodrigues et al, 2019; Viršek, Lovšin, Koren, Kržan, & Peterlin, 2017). Fecal indicators such as E. coli have been cultivated from MP biofilms and pathogens such as Vibrio have been observed in MP biofilm found in the marine environment (Kirstein et al, 2016; Quilliam, Jamieson, & Oliver, 2014).…”

Human Health and Ocean Pollution

“…Pathogenic bacteria have been detected on sub-surface microplastics comprised of polyethylene fibers, in plastic-containing sea surface films, and in polypropylene fragments sampled in a coastal area of the Baltic Sea [177]. Similarly, E. coli and other potentially pathogenic species have been found on plastics in coastal waters [178] and on public beaches [179]. Algal species involved in HABs [180] and ciliates implicated in coral diseases [181] have also been found attached to marine microplastics.…”