Micro-organisms in clouds could play a crucial role in the spread of disease and in the formation of rain drops, scientists have claimed.
The radical theories about nanobacteria – micro-organisms considerably smaller than ordinary bacteria - in clouds are published in two recent articles in the Journal of Proteome Research by Dr Andrei P. Sommer of the
Micro-organisms in clouds could play a crucial role in the spread of disease and in the formation of rain drops, scientists have claimed.
, Germany, and Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe of
, UK.
They say nanobacteria are now accepted as being widely prevalent in the terrestrial environment and that their evidence is compelling for the existence of these nano-organisms, even in the stratosphere. In humans, nanobacteria have now been identified on four continents, they add.
Dr Sommer and Professor Wickramasinghe further suggest that nanobacteria's involvement in several serious diseases such as the formation kidney stones, heart disease, and HIV is also slowly being recognised by the scientific community.
"Experiments have shown that nanobacteria are excreted from the body in urine and their dispersal from the ground into the atmosphere and stratosphere appears to be inevitable," said Dr Sommer.
The scientists argue that their occurrence in clouds could play a crucial role in the global dispersal of infective agents, and might also play a prominent role in the nucleation of cloud drops.