Scientists Unearth Sky-High, Antibiotic-Resistant Genes… In Clouds

The passing of clouds overhead can make for a nice reprieve during a busy day as one tilts their head up to watch them shift by, wispy and delicate. Clouds, as we know them, are made of water vapor and ice crystals in the sky. But they might also carry a gene that could be potentially deadly to humans.

Researchers from the Université Laval in Quebec, Canada, and the Université Clermont Auvergne in France discovered the existence of antimicrobial-resistant microbes lurking in fluffy white clouds. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1.27 million people worldwide die yearly due to these genes.

Their effect on people and animals has led scientists to scramble to find an answer, and the clouds might just be a new window into how to beat such germs. Over two years, the team conducted 12 sampling sessions from a weather station on the Puy de Dôme summit, some 4,806 feet high in the sky.

The findings showed that clouds contained 8,000 bacteria per milliliter of water, and from there, 20,800 copies of antibiotic-resistant genes were found. It was also discovered that those that moved over the ocean and those that created pathways over land had different types of these pathogens. In addition, the latter seemed to hold antibiotic-resistant particles that worked against antibiotics used on livestock.

Animal farming might cause these organisms in the sky, and the study posits that the wind and other human activities aerosolize the particles. As a result, they get trapped in the atmosphere and are later turned into clouds.

So while they might be beautiful to watch pass while lying on a patch of grass, they might be spreading harmful bacteria along the way. The silver lining is that such a discovery can aid researchers in better understanding the spread of the particles and finding a way to prevent human activities from contributing to the dispersal of the genes.

The study was first published in the Science of the Total Environment journal.

[via New Atlas and Physics.org, Photo 150146307 © Brainstormoff | Dreamstime.com]