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Viruses survive in fresh water by ‘hitchhiking’ on plastic: Study

  • Posted By
    10Pointer
  • Categories
    Environment
  • Published
    29th Jun, 2022

Context

As per a recent research, dangerous viruses can remain infectious for up to three days in fresh water by hitchhiking on plastic.

Key-findings

  • This is the first research into how viruses behave in the environment.
  • Enteric viruses that cause diarrhoea and stomach upsets, such as rotavirus, were found to survive in water by attaching to microplastics, tiny particles less than 5mm long. 
  • They remain infectious, University of Stirling researchers found, posing a potential health risk.

Microplastics

Microplastics are small plastic pieces less than five millimeters long which can be harmful to our ocean and aquatic life.

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