The art of living with microbes in air: Human Health

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1 The art of living with microbes in air: Human Health Source: atomtwo/dscb_site/index.php Kesaraju Seeta Ramchander Rao Ph.D., F.I.A.S Applied Biology Section, Department of Applied Sciences Higher College of Technology, Muscat

2 POLLUTION Earth Day 2018 This year s Earth Day is dedicated to spreading awareness about plastic pollution and the need to tackle it SOLUTION?? Ideonella sakaiensis PET (polyethylene terephthalate)

3 About 8.7 million (give or take 1.3 million) Distribution of species by kingdom. Credit: CoML (Census of Marine Life), 2011

4 With 6.5 million species found on land and 2.2 million (about 25 percent of the total) dwelling in the ocean depths A staggering 86% of all species on land and 91% of those in the seas have yet to be discovered, described and catalogued.

5 In 1998 microbiologist William B. Whitman at the University of Georgia estimated that there are 5,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (5 x 10^30 ) five million trillion trillion bacteria on Earth at any given time. All other life forms combined aren't even significant digits. (Source: Whitman et al Prokaryotes: the unseen majority. Proc. Nat. Acad Sci 95)

6 The Microbial World: Airborne Microorganisms

7 Living with microbes Human beings have long used antibiotics and other weapons to wage war on microbes. But microbes seem to evolve as quickly as scientists devise new means to destroy them. Embrace new methods for peaceful coexistence with microbial life (Swerdlow and Johnson, 2002)

8 Bioaerosols Biological particles suspended in the air are called bioaerosols. They are a composition of various particles of biological origin Biological particles possess many special physical, chemical and, of course, biological properties

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10 Aerobiology Aerobiology is the study of the processes involved in the movement of microorganisms in the atmosphere from one geographical location to another (P. H. Gregory, The Microbiology of the Atmosphere, Wiley, New York, NY, USA, 1973)

11 AIR SAMPLING TOOLS/METHODS

12 Balloons and kites

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16 Rhinitis/hay fever Bronchitis Contact Dermatitis ABCD Asthma

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21 Long-distance dispersal (LDD) in the air is an important survival strategy for many organisms, enabling them to colonize new territory rapidly or to migrate between summer and winter habitats.

22 It is especially relevant for fungi pathogenic on crop plants, because wind dispersal of their spores for hundreds or thousands of kilometers has caused the spread of several important diseases on a continental or global scale and allows the regular reestablishment of diseases in regions where the climate is seasonally unfavorable (Fig)

23 Dispersal of the wheat yellow rust pathogen, Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici, in China.

24 Disease hits wheat crops in Africa, Mideast International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), 2011

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27 Ganoderma applanatum Copyright Malcolm Storey

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32 Figure 2. Photomicrographs of selected pollen grains recovered from the honey samples. Song XY, Yao YF, Yang WD (2012) Pollen Analysis of Natural Honeys from the Central Region of Shanxi, North China. PLOS ONE 7(11): e

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35 Indoor Aerobiology Source: ers_moldmoisture.aspx

36 Indoor air pollution from indoor fuel burning kills 1.6 million people eacyear.

37 In Developed Countries: The average American spends about 90% of their lives indoors. The two most dangerous indoor air pollutants are tobacco smoke and radon Radon gas is a radioactive gas that comes from the natural breakdown of uranium in soil, rock and water It is both colorless and odorless

38 Air borne microbes/spm

39 Indoor Air Pollution and Health Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) refers to the air quality within and around buildings and structures, especially as it relates to the health and comfort of building occupants. Understanding and controlling common pollutants indoors can help reduce your risk of indoor health concerns Health effects from indoor air pollutants may be experienced soon after exposure or, possibly, years later

40 Immediate Effects Some health effects may show up shortly after a single exposure or repeated exposures to a pollutant. These include irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat, headaches, dizziness, and fatigue

41 Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) The sick building syndrome comprises of various nonspecific symptoms that occur in the occupants of a building Headache, dizziness, nausea, eye, nose or throat irritation, dry cough, dry or itching skin, difficulty in concentration, fatigue, sensitivity to odours, hoarseness of voice, allergies, cold, flu-like symptoms, increased incidence of asthma attacks and personality changes

42 Fungi Release Toxin Directly Into Air

43 Toxins from mold can aerosolize directly into the air, which may help explain one cause of sick building syndrome Mold growing in buildings can make people sick, especially people who are allergic to various fungi. It s also known that various molds and fungi produce mycotoxins chemicals that can sicken and even kill people and animals

44 Stachybotrys

45 Airborne fungal spores

46 Culture plate method

47 Hurricane Katrina - Chaetomium

48 Aerobiology-Air Sampling

49 Rotorod Airsampler

50 Personal Sampler

51 NASA to investigate unknown fungus found growing on the space station Astronauts have reported funding the strange microbial growths on walls and surfaces, and it has even clogged waterlines Two instruments onboard will be used to analyze it in orbit

52 PANSPERMIA The theory of Panspermia as proposed by Richter (1865), Lord Kelvin (1894) and Arrhenius (1903) holds that reproductive bodies of living organisms can exist throughout the universe and develop wherever the environment is favorable. Major criticisms of Panspermia are that living organisms will not survive long exposure to space and that it avoids the issue when life began (Tilak, 2016)

53 Sir Fred Hoyle ( ) and Chandra Wickramasinghe (born 1939) were influential proponents of panspermia In an Origins Symposium presentation on April 7, 2009, physicist Late Stephen Hawking stated his opinion about what humans may find when venturing into space, such as the possibility of alien life through the theory of panspermia: "Life could spread from planet to planet or from stellar system to stellar system, carried on meteors."

54 THANK YOU