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Climate change and wastewater from the agricultural sector are driving the once normal environmental process increasingly out of control. A recent study showed that a highly dangerous toxin secreted by cyanobacteria is found not only in water, but also in some cases … in the air.
This toxin is called anatoxin-a (TXA) or very fast death factor. And it really does what can be understood by its name: it kills very fast. If you were extremely unlucky and affected, this toxin would cause loss of coordination, paralysis, and death. And it affects both humans and animals.
“ATX is one of the most dangerous cyanotoxins released during ‘algal blooms,’ and this process is increasingly being seen in lakes and ponds around the world due to a warming climate and climate change,” said James Sutherland, Nantakett Land Council spokesperson and author. of the new study.
The ATX toxin is secreted by a variety of blue-green algae that multiply in warm, stagnant, nutrient-saturated water. And this toxin can alter the entire ecosystem.
Bluebacter
During harmful algal blooms, cyanobacteria reduce the amount of oxygen in the water and can sometimes release toxins like TXA.
Later, when flowering ends, the microbes that break down the algae consume even more oxygen, which can lead to massive fish kills and the formation of so-called dead zones.
Generally, the services in charge of the maintenance of water bodies ensure that people do not go near the water during the algal bloom, since there is a risk that toxins such as ATX are released. However, there has been more than one case of people entering hospitals, and many dogs and other animals that have been exposed to such toxic water have also died.
But researchers at the Nantaket Island Land Council in Massachusetts, USA, wanted to find out whether ambient air was also a threat during algal blooms.
“Although previous research has not identified ATX molecules or ATX molecules containing bluetongue in the air, we have hypothesized that the ATX toxin can be transmitted through the air under certain environmental conditions,” the researchers wrote in their latest research. .
The researchers studied the Kapaum freshwater pond in Nantakete, where the algae regularly bloom in the summer. In July-October 2019, they collected samples of pond water and air around it.
High concentrations of ATX were detected in this body of water on a specific day: September 11, 2019. A team of scientists discovered that one milliliter of water contained 21 nanograms of the toxin. On that windy and smoky day, the researchers found the toxin ATX in the air near the pond. In a filter, they detected an average concentration of 0.87 nanograms, which means that there were 0.16 nanograms of this toxin per square meter.
Bluebacter
“People often rest near lakes and ponds when algae bloom, unaware of the potential problems,” Sutherland said. “Direct contact or inhalation of these cyanotoxins can be detrimental to human health, and we have identified possible harmful effects to human health.”
Scientists are still not sure how the toxin gets into the air and the aerosol effects of TXA are still not well understood, so several additional studies are needed.
Scientists speculate that the wind is likely to lift tiny droplets filled with ATX molecules, or even bluetongue cells, into the air, and the mist helps the ATX toxin stay in the air longer.
Therefore, the most important conclusion is that the algal bloom should be kept away from water bodies, especially on windy and smoky days, so that it does not suddenly become the subject of investigation of a very sudden death factor.
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