Every square meter of the surface of our planet is subjected to a powerful viral bombardment every second, say representatives of an international group of researchers who have concentrated on the study of the so-called "viral rain".
Scientists, in particular, found out that there are very dangerous pathogenic organisms that can spread not only as a result of contact infection, but also remotely, overcoming, at the same time, many thousands of kilometers.
“In fact, we are talking about the fact that some of the most dangerous viruses can literally fly between separate continents and fall there like rain. We could not even imagine that this is possible, but this is an ordinary reality that takes place on our planet just every second,”the scientists write from the pages of The ISME Journal: Multidisciplinary Journal of Microbial Ecology.
Viruses, interestingly, fall further on the planet's surface than bacteria. Scientists explain this by the fact that viruses attached to dust particles, unlike bacteria, show much better survival rates.
“We now understand why some genetically similar viral organisms are found on different continents. In addition, it became clear that carriers are not needed to carry viruses - dangerous pathogens do well without them,”the researchers conclude.
Kolesnikov Andrey
