Nanobacteria in clouds could spread disease, scientists claim

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http://www.physorg.com/news3615.html

 

Nanobacteria in clouds could spread disease, scientists claim

 

'Micro-organisms could also prompt rainfall'

 

Micro-organisms in clouds could play a crucial role in the spread of disease and

in the formation of rain drops, scientists have claimed.

The radical theories about nanobacteria – micro-organisms considerably smaller

than ordinary bacteria - in clouds are published in two recent articles in the

Journal of Proteome Research by Dr Andrei P. Sommer of the University of Ulm,

Germany, and Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe of Cardiff University, UK.

 

They say nanobacteria are now accepted as being widely prevalent in the

terrestrial environment and that their evidence is compelling for the existence

of these nano-organisms, even in the stratosphere. In humans, nanobacteria have

now been identified on four continents, they add.

 

Dr Sommer and Professor Wickramasinghe further suggest that nanobacteria's

involvement in several serious diseases such as the formation kidney stones,

heart disease, and HIV is also slowly being recognised by the scientific

community.

 

" Experiments have shown that nanobacteria are excreted from the body in urine

and their dispersal from the ground into the atmosphere and stratosphere appears

to be inevitable, " said Dr Sommer.

 

The scientists argue that their occurrence in clouds could play a crucial role

in the global dispersal of infective agents, and might also play a prominent

role in the nucleation of cloud drops.

 

" This happens because nanobacteria, lifted from the ground by winds, could

transit between the high humidity region of the clouds and the relatively dry

inter-cloud regions, leading to oscillations between a dormant state and one of

activation, " explained Professor Wickramasinghe. " Remnants of a sticky protein

(slime) coating nanobacteria makes them act as extremely efficient cloud

condensation nuclei, with a tendency to aggregate to clusters upon contact. "

 

Their work corroborates the findings of Ruprecht Jaenicke, of the Institute for

Atmospheric Physics at Mainz University, Germany, on bioaerosols (airborne

contaminants) and proteins in the atmosphere reported in New Scientist (31

March) and Science (1 April). The contribution of nanobacteria to pathogenic

bioaerosols, in the view of the authors, must overwhelm all other types of

biological particles in the atmosphere.