4 ms·

> as result of decreased exposure to diverse antigens: The link you posted doesn't make that claim. The word antigen doesn't even appear in the article you lin

> as result of decreased exposure to diverse antigens: The link you posted doesn't make that claim. The word antigen doesn't even appear in the article you linked. Rather, it claims: "In order to do that, you have to first figure out what's causing the decline: Is it stress? Is it microgravity? Is it radiation? Is it a plethora of things? When we figure that out, we can try to find ways to directly target those factors and mitigate them." Having said that, we know for a fact humans can't survive long term in a completely sterile environment as babies wouldn't have their integumentary system and digestive systems populated with commensal organisms shortly after birth in a completely sterile environment. So it's seems at least plausible to me that living in a increasingly sterile environments is likely to be a net negative on overall health etc etc.

trhway 6y ago
Right, that article doesn't. I saw several articles which do mention it, for example https://www.statnews.com/2019/02/15/scott-kelly-nasa-twins-study-immune-system/ https://www.statnews.com/2019/02/15/scott-kelly-nasa-twins-s... "Immune issues sound familiar to Dr. Jerry Linenger, an American astronaut who spent more than four months on the Russian space station Mir. He said he was never sick in orbit, but once he came back to Earth “I was probably more sick than I was in my life.” Astronauts launch into orbit with their own germs and get exposed to their crewmates’ germs and then after a week with nothing else new in the “very sterile environment” of a space station “your immune system is really not challenged,” Linenger said." Thus we can see that not being sick while in orbit, despite all the stress and other space factors - microgravity/radiation/etc. - which are supposed to weaken immune system, while getting sick on return when those space factors disappear clearly favors the immune system antigen exposure dependence explanation.
- TheSpiceIsLife 6y ago
  Thanks for the response. Yeah, I can see why having astronauts not get ill in space makes sense at the moment, and that for more long-term viability of living in space humans are going to probably have to take their mess and germs with them. And also that lack of exposure to immune-challenges probably represents a net-negative effect on our well-being in this life and also reduced selection-pressure in the evolutionary sense. Quite concerning!

trhway 6y ago

Right, that article doesn't. I saw several articles which do mention it, for example https://www.statnews.com/2019/02/15/scott-kelly-nasa-twins-study-immune-system/ https://www.statnews.com/2019/02/15/scott-kelly-nasa-twins-s... "Immune issues sound familiar to Dr. Jerry Linenger, an American astronaut who spent more than four months on the Russian space station Mir. He said he was never sick in orbit, but once he came back to Earth “I was probably more sick than I was in my life.” Astronauts launch into orbit with their own germs and get exposed to their crewmates’ germs and then after a week with nothing else new in the “very sterile environment” of a space station “your immune system is really not challenged,” Linenger said." Thus we can see that not being sick while in orbit, despite all the stress and other space factors - microgravity/radiation/etc. - which are supposed to weaken immune system, while getting sick on return when those space factors disappear clearly favors the immune system antigen exposure dependence explanation.

TheSpiceIsLife 6y ago
Thanks for the response. Yeah, I can see why having astronauts not get ill in space makes sense at the moment, and that for more long-term viability of living in space humans are going to probably have to take their mess and germs with them. And also that lack of exposure to immune-challenges probably represents a net-negative effect on our well-being in this life and also reduced selection-pressure in the evolutionary sense. Quite concerning!