The survival, persistence, and ecology of microbial pathogens on the surfaces of environmental plastic pollution

Plastics in the environment become rapidly colonised by microbial biofilm. These ‘plastisphere’ communities can support or even enrich human pathogens, which can be transported, disseminated and transferred to humans, e.g., through direct exposure at beaches or bathing waters. With the continued pollution of plastics in the environment, human exposure to pathogen-colonised plastic pollution will rise, and increasing our understanding of the survival, transfer and characterisation of these potentially harmful pathogens will help in assessing the potential implications to human health.