Human-to-coral transmission: Damn you, Serratia!
Some of you may be enjoying a relaxing coastal summer vacation, snorkeling in breathtaking coral reefs. You might think that nasty nosocomial pathogens would never follow you to such an idyllic paradise. Well, you’d be wrong! Turns out that Serratia marcescens is responsible for a disease that is killing elkhorn coral all over the Caribbean, and that the responsible strain has been isolated both from the diseased coral and from human waste.
We all know S. marcescens as a cunning nosocomial opportunist, one that is often the culprit when outbreaks are linked to contaminated intravenous preparations, soaps, and disinfectants. Now we have circumstantial evidence supporting S. marcescens as a “reverse zoonosis”, here.
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