Resiliency Of Disease-Carrying Microorganisms In A Changing World

Introduction

Microorganisms have been on planet earth for billion years before us humans have even existed. Some of these microorganisms are helpful to the environment including the plants and animals and us humans. Pathogens (disease-causing microorganisms) are parasites which grow in or out of the host’s body. Microorganisms such as bacteria, virus, fungi, and protists are harmful to some living organisms because they can cause damage to tissues and eventually causing death (Lewis, et. al., 2002). Viruses for example are obligatory intracellular parasites which are host-specific. One example of this is the corona virus family (MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV) which is very famous now a days for its new emerging strain called the SARS-CoV-2. Another example of this is the Influenza virus which causes respiratory illness. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an influenza virus called H1N1 was the deadliest flu in the History of 1918 Flu Pandemic which has infected around 500 million people.

On the other hand bacteria are single-celled microorganism which are said to be designed for adaptability. Their genetic make-up and bacterial layers makes these microorganisms capable of alterations which lead to their survival even if changes in the environment are prominent.

Microorganisms can thrive to different range of environmental conditions it may be in cold, hot, or even acidic situations. For many years pathogens exist either as a reemerging one or of a different organism which leads to the topic of how do these microorganisms survived or are surviving the ever changing environmental conditions and abiotic factors in the planet.

Resiliency ability of Microorganisms

Years before the existence of humans and other living organisms, microbes were present given the early earth conditions. The environment and its organisms undergo anthropogenic climate changes over the time (). Pathogens are not an exception to those changes in the environment also, because for them to survive they must constantly adapt to these conditions. Several adaptive abilities particularly for bacteria and virus contribute to how these pathogens escape its extinction.

Some Bacteria have an adaptive capability of endospore formation, which pertains to the production of a spore when the organism is in an unfavorable environmental condition. An example of this is the Bacillus anthracis which causes the disease Anthrax on cattle, sheep, and other animals which can also be transmitted to humans.

Magnaporthe oryzae is a fungal pathogen of rice plant which causes a blast. Aside from a hemibiotrophic leaf infection it also adopts a unique biotrophic infection strategy in roots without killing its host cell (Marcel et. al., 2010).

Viruses although can’t possess the characteristics of a living organism (replicate) outside a host, can still be deadly because the environment also gives them the opportunity to be transmitted to their hosts. According to Pirtle and Beran (1991) on their study “Virus Survival in the Environment”, some viruses have been reported to be heat resistant (Adenovirus, African swine fever virus, and Norwalk virus), and disinfectant resistant (Picoronavirus, Papovirus, Reovirus, and Retrovirus). These findings show that viruses are somehow one step ahead from the preventive measures that living organisms and also the environment have.

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One thing that must also be highlighted is the discovery of antibiotic resistant pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus (Penicillin resistant), Candida (Fluconazole resitant), and Klebsiella pneumonia (Ceftazidime-avibactam resistant). According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of USA, antibiotic resistance can affect people, the healthcare, agriculture industries, and veterinary which lead to being a public health problem. Pathogens will always find ways to survive and it includes resistance to drugs. If pathogens still continue to develop abilities that will neutralize the use of antibiotics to treat infectious diseases it will definitely put the living organisms benefiting from it in danger.

Although several adaptive capabilities were present for these disease-causing microorganisms, it is still curious as to what extent are they resilient to its environment or to the changing environmental conditions. For example, the disease Cholera exhibit seasonal dynamics with strain-specific for different seasons which results to evolution of seasonal phenotype. The changes in environmental factors are an avenue to observe the effects of climate change on diseases (Koelle, et. al., 2005).

Researches about the diversity and use of different microbiome in the environment were very minimal making it hard to describe if there are specific counterpart to battle particular diseases. However, in the environment plants and animals are surrounded by microbiomes which contribute to its immunity to those common pathogens. Artificial selection of microbiome and engineering evolves microbiomes with specific effects on the host is one way of using them to battle against pathogens (Mueller & Sachs, 2015).

A microbial community is very dependent on its environment. If the environment they thrive on cannot provide enough nutrients to support their basic functions, they will eventually die. But microorganisms always find a way on how they can survive, like how they suddenly evolve different kind of strains to adapt to the change on their environment or hosts.

The effect of the “changing world” to the microorganisms

Like other living organisms pathogens also rely on the environment that they thrive on. It has been observed that the changes in the world’s temperature and the continuous abundance of toxic gases in our atmosphere affect the life of organisms. According to Seaton et. al. (2014), Global warming has increased the frequency of extreme weather conditions which affects the hydrological cycle leading to a variation to biotic and abiotic environment. Factors such as temperature which are rising, shifts in precipitation, and extreme weather conditions affect all organisms big or small. Climate change affects the vector-host dynamics. According to Lesley Evans Ogden (2018), vector-borne diseases caused by parasites, bacteria, and viruses transmitted to humans through a host organism are being influenced by climate change.

Many pathogens are sensitive to temperature changes meaning it will affect the range of expansion of these microorganisms. As the temperature rises the vector of the disease can develop and complete its life cycle faster and so as it develops more generations of the hosts are made making it beneficial for the pathogens (Molnar, 2017). Given this fact, diseases caused by these pathogens will disturb the population of living organisms that it will affect through increase of infected individuals. Although changes in those factors helps the pathogens, it will also have its counteract. Pathogens and its vectors cannot survive a warmer environmental condition meaning that their lifespan is getting shorter than normal.

Human effects on microorganisms are less observed and characterized, one major concern is that the changes in microbial diversity and activity will and can affect the resilience of other microorganisms and also affect their adaptive capability to respond to environmental changes (Cavicchioli, Ripple, Timmis, et al., 2019).

In conclusion, pathogens are powerful microorganism which can thrive in various environments and harsh conditions. Aside from that, they also have very effective adaptive abilities that help them live on for long. They may mutate and go from one host to another or they may also evolve and resist factors that are meant to kill them. But the fact that the world is in constant change, means that a natural selection like event is happening to those microorganisms. Given this fact, it’s still prevalent that these microorganisms are resilient like any other living organisms which can survive through time.

References

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