Microbes Ride On Dust 1,200 Miles From China To Japan, Scientists Say

Scientists have discovered that strong winds can carry harmful microbes over vast distances, with microbes hitching a ride on dust particles from China to Japan. Researchers from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) found that these microbes traveled 1,200 miles (2,000 km) from Chinese farmland to Japan. The study used a small plane to collect air samples 3,000 meters above Japan to better understand the microbial diversity in high altitudes.

To their surprise, researchers found a wide variety of fungi and bacteria in the samples, some potentially harmful to humans, animals, and plants. “Our findings uncover a rich and unprecedented diversity of microbes that are dispersed by wind currents thousands of kilometers away from their sources,” said Xavier Rodó, ICREA researcher at ISGlobal. The study is one of the few to explore microbial life at such high altitudes, as most previous research focused only on ground-level air.

The team conducted ten air surveys between 1,000 and 3,000 meters using a small Cessna aircraft, tracking wind currents from mainland China. These currents, known as tropospheric bridges, transport air—and microbes—across great distances. The samples were found to contain 266 fungal and 305 bacterial genera, with some posing risks to human health, particularly for immunocompromised individuals.

Alarmingly, many of these bacteria were resistant to common antibiotics. The strain Micrococcus luteus, for example, was resistant to multiple drugs, raising concerns about the spread of antimicrobial resistance over long distances. The study also highlighted the potential threat to plant and animal health, as similar microbes were found both in the air and on the ground. This discovery suggests that wind-borne dust may transport harmful microbes across continents, posing environmental and health risks globally.