Newly Discovered Probiotic Could Protect Caribbean Corals Threatened by Deadly, Devastating Disease

Researchers with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and the University of Florida have discovered the first effective bacterial probiotic for treating and preventing stony coral tissue loss disease, or SCTLD, a mysterious ailment that has devastated Florida’s coral reefs since 2014 and is rapidly spreading throughout the Caribbean.

The probiotic treatment, described in a paper published in Communications Biology, provides an alternative to the use of the broad-spectrum antibiotic amoxicillin, which has so far been the only proven treatment for the disease but which runs the risk of promoting antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

The potential of this newly identified probiotic to help Florida’s embattled corals without the danger of inadvertently spawning antibiotic-resistant bacteria represents some urgently needed good news, said Valerie Paul, head scientist at the Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce, Florida, and senior author of the study. 

Read more about Newly Discovered Probiotic Could Protect Caribbean Corals Threatened by Deadly, Devastating Disease.