African Dust and Microbial Pathogens Essay example

The atmosphere is a relatively unexplored and unthought of environment for a microbial habitat. Approximately 0.5 to 5.0 billion tons of dust travels in the atmosphere each year throughout the globe or within a particular region (Perkins, 2001). Dust is transported from Africa, other countries with large deserts and contains diverse microbial communities (bacteria and fungi) often containing pathogens. Data presented within the current and past century has shown that microbes are capable of withstanding environments exposing them to desiccation, UV, and other physical stresses, making them a good candidate for airborne global travel. Knowledge of these various microbes is increasing due to concerns over human health and oceanic diseases†¦show more content†¦Most dust circulates to the Caribbean, North and Central America during June through October (Graham, 1979). Climate change has greatly affected dust transport partially because of decreased rainfall. Anthropogenic influe nce creates aerosols in the atmosphere and are derived from three primary sources: biomass burning, desert dust and pollution due to anthropogenic effects. Increasing agricultural land use (over grazing and over farming) are just a few of the contributing problems. The dust created by increasing desertification provides issues for human and marine health. Generally, ill-health is correlated to higher dust storm rates, bacteria and fungi can be carried across seas for international infection, and dust storms can damage Florida flora by blocking sunlight preventing photosynthesis. Currently, there is still much information to be studied on African dust and how it affects various organisms. It is widely accepted that studies of African dust confirm human impact on the environment must decrease and we must find more efficient ways of agricultural development otherwise problems will continue to arise in many forms. Coral reef decline has thought to be linked with the rise of African dust, due to the demise of reef health since 1970. Since 1974, 29 major marine outbreaks have been recorded and of the 29, 20 of them were located in the Atlantic basin and nearby areas (Sherman et al., 1992). 8 of the 29Show MoreRelatedEssay on Cystic Fibrosis1134 Words   |  5 Pages(approximately 50% of CF patients live to the age of 30). As early as 30 years ago, the median survival age was 8 years. Chronic lung infections, which lead to declines in lung function, remain the major cause of morbidity and mortality. While several pathogens have been implicated, Pseudomonas aeruginosa—an opportunistic and virulent bacterium—has an affinity for the lung tissue of CF patients. New research efforts, focused on gene mapping as a possible mechanism to identify mutations correlating with