In an effort to prevent the spread of coral disease, scientists are spraying reefs with antibiotics.

In an effort to safeguard Caribbean reefs from a potentially fatal disease, researchers have begun administering antibiotics to the corals there. However, there are concerns that this could lead to antibiotic resistance in other marine organisms.

Researchers are applying an antibiotic sludge to tens of thousands of individual corals one at a time in order to stop the spread of an unexplained disease that is affecting coral in the Caribbean. Some people are now giving corals probiotic supplements in the belief that it may increase the corals' resistance to the disease.

The stony coral tissue loss disease, also known as SCTLD, was discovered for the first time in 2014 off the coast of Miami, Florida, and ever since then, experts have been stymied in their attempts to grasp the strange infection. Only hard corals are susceptible to the illness, which is characterised by…