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from the you-thought-airplanes-were-bad dept.
The ISS is crawling with nasty bacteria
NASA scientists have found that the International Space Station (ISS), home to six astronauts, is infested with disease-inducing bacteria. Many of the organisms breeding on the craft's surfaces are known to form both bacterial and fungal biofilms that promote resistance to antibiotics. The NASA team published their findings in a new study -- the first comprehensive catalog of germs in closed space systems -- in the journal Microbiome [open, DOI: 10.1186/s40168-019-0666-x] [DX]. The biofilms ability to cause microbial-induced corrosion on Earth could also play havoc with the ISS' infrastructure by causing mechanical blockages, claim the researchers.
The microbes come from humans and are similar to the ones in gyms, offices, and hospitals on Earth. They include so-called opportunistic pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus (commonly found on the skin and in the nasal passage) and Enterobacter (associated with the human gastrointestinal tract). Though they can cause diseases back on Earth, it's unclear what, if any, affect they'd have on the ISS' inhabitants.
Also at BGR.
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(Score: 2) by looorg on Wednesday April 10 2019, @12:04PM (2 children)
Considering that a lack of cleaning might invalidate or tamper with all the experiments they do up there or the health of the astronauts/cosmonauts they send up there it would probably be worth it. Considering the cost involved in training one of them, sending them into space and the cost of the facility itself I would assume sending some cleaning supplies might actually be worth it. The problem as I mention is that it might/will create waste that they perhaps don't really know how to handle -- after all they seem to recycle a lot of other things so they might have a finite amount of storage for waste (unless just hurling it into space in some direction away from earth will do).
(Score: 2) by lentilla on Wednesday April 10 2019, @02:06PM
:-( I was only attempting to be humorous.
I am no space junky - so I can not say with any certainty - but I am sure "killer space mould" is something that weighs on the experts' minds more than a little. I am sure they would very much like to clean it - they just have not come up with a good solution yet.
I will even wager there is an entire field of expertise focused on killer space mould.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Gault.Drakkor on Wednesday April 10 2019, @06:08PM
Well, an interview of Chris Hadfield: youtube "Astronaut Chris Hadfield Debunks space myths |Wired" 10:40 --11:20 answers a question about bacteria.
In his answer, he says they were frequently wiping down parts of the station to keep things clean. Also he mentions collecting samples to see what is growing/present. which presumably that information was used in the research being reported by the article.