Clumps of 5,000-mile seaweed blob bring flesh-eating bacteria to Florida

But now giant clumps of the 13m-ton morass labeled the Great Atlantic sargassum belt are washing up on Florida’s beaches, scientists are warning of a real-life threat from the piles of decomposing algae, namely high levels of the flesh-eating Vibrio bacteria lurking in the vegetation.

Even more worrying, the researchers say, is the role of ocean pollution in the proliferation of the bacteria, which can cause disease and death if a person gets infected.

Samples tested from the Caribbean and #Sargasso Sea within the Atlantic were abundant with plastic debris, which interacted with the algae and bacteria to create a “perfect pathogen storm [with] implications for both marine life and public health”.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/03/sargassum-seaweed-algae-florida-bacteria-vibrio

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