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Microplastics make shrimp more vulnerable to deadly disease
Summary
Lab experiments showed that polyvinyl chloride (PVC) microplastics help white spot syndrome virus — a deadly shrimp pathogen — survive longer and replicate more efficiently in larval shrimp guts, suppressing the animals' antiviral immune defenses. This study demonstrates that microplastics can act as disease amplifiers in aquaculture species, with major implications for shrimp farming and coastal ecosystem health.
Tiny specks of plastic drifting in waterbodies are a growing environmental hazard. Shrimp and other critters ingest the plastic particles, mistaking them for food. These microplastics can accumulate in their guts, impairing the animals’ growth and behavior. Recent research suggests their health may be further compromised as plastics provide surfaces for myriad microorganisms, including disease-causing pathogens, to congregate. Now, biologists at Ningbo University report that polyvinyl chloride microplastics prolong the survival and replication of the white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) in larval shrimp guts, resulting in greater numbers of shrimp deaths. In laboratory experiments, they found that these microplastics impaired the hosts’ antiviral defense pathway, making them more vulnerable to the viral infection ( Environ. Sci. Technol. 2023, DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.3c01566 ). The study demonstrates how microplastics might impact the crustacean aquaculture industry, which already struggles to contain WSSV outbreaks. “We’re [increasingly] seeing this connection between microplastics and organismal health in