As plastic debris in the environment continues to increase, an emerging concern is the potential for microplastic to act as vectors for pathogen transport. With aquaculture the fastest growing food sector, and microplastic contamination of shellfish increasingly demonstrated, understanding any risk of pathogen transport associated with microplastic is important for this industry. However, there remains a lack of detailed, systematic studies assessing the interactions and potential impacts that the attachment of human and animal pathogens on microplastic may have. Here we synthesise current knowledge regarding these distinct microplastic-associated bacterial communities and microplastic uptake pathways into bivalves, and discuss whether they represent a human and animal health threat, highlighting the outstanding questions critical to our understanding of this potential risk to food safety.

随着环境中塑料碎片的不断增加，一个新出现的问题是微塑料有可能成为病原体传播的载体。随着水产养殖成为增长最快的食品行业，并且越来越多地证明贝类微塑料污染，了解与微塑料相关的病原体传播风险对于该行业来说非常重要。然而，仍然缺乏详细、系统的研究来评估人类和动物病原体附着在微塑料上可能产生的相互作用和潜在影响。在这里，我们综合了有关这些独特的微塑料相关细菌群落和微塑料吸收途径进入双壳类动物的当前知识，并讨论它们是否对人类和动物健康构成威胁，