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It seems easy to prevent a disease found on the ISS from infecting deep space missions; just don't link the two up. Maybe those other missions will develop the
by lupusreal 3y ago
It seems easy to prevent a disease found on the ISS from infecting deep space missions; just don't link the two up. Maybe those other missions will develop their own strains in time, but with fewer people coming and leaving it should be easier to keep the spacecraft clean and healthy by starting out that way. Also the ISS has been occupied for 23 years with this issue only becoming apparent recently, so that seems like a pretty good run.
- nabla9 3y agoISS is not special. Strains found on earth did not evolve into drug resistant variants. E. bugandensis is multi-drug resistant resistant on Earth variants too. You can use quarantine to guard against many virus infections, but bacteria that always gets into space with humans is persistent threat. It's annoying when near Earth, but Mars missions must learn how to deal with emergencies.
- dogtorwoof 3y agoI do wonder about cosmic radiation and it’s ability to cause mutations to DNA. Could be part of the reason why there’s increased resistance.
- nabla9 3y agoIt seems that microgravity itself increases resistance. Bacteria show enhanced growth, increased virulence, higher resistance to antibiotics, and increased biofilm formation in microgravity. https://theconversation.com/as-if-space-wasnt-dangerous-enough-bacteria-become-more-deadly-in-microgravity-141053 https://theconversation.com/as-if-space-wasnt-dangerous-enou...