(Express)
Bill McLoughlin Apr 8, 2019 07:39
In a study published in the Microbiome journal, researchers found that the space station has become littered with microbes that could carry “infectious diseases”. NASA scientists found microbes which thrive in extreme sealed environments such as the space station. Although the study could not yet determine the severity of the bacteria, it has opened the door for more research into the space station’s “indoor microbiome”.
Corresponding author Senior Research Scientist Dr Kasthuri Venkateswaran, at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), also added that the damage from the microbes is not yet known.
He said: “Specific microbes in these indoor spaces have been shown to impact human health by influencing our susceptibility to allergies, infectious diseases, or sick building syndrome.
"The influence of the indoor microbiome on human health becomes more important for astronauts during flights due to altered immunity associated with space flight and the lack of sophisticated medical interventions that are available on Earth.”
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