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The International Space Station Is Home To Potentially Dangerous Bacteria (sciencemag.org)
sciencehabit writes: There's a little known, dirty story about the International Space Station (ISS): It's filled with bacteria and fungi. A new study has found compelling evidence that microorganisms from human skin are present throughout the station, and some of the bugs could cause serious harm to astronauts.The most concerning finding was from the "high-efficiency particulate arrestance" (HEPA) air filter used in the ISS: 99.65% of the viable sequences they retrieved came from Actinobacteria. The Actinobacteria phylum includes Corynebacterium and Propionibacterium; each genus was found in the ISS samples at a high level, which is "problematic," say the researchers, because they both have species that are opportunistic pathogens. Astronauts who live in microgravity for prolonged periods also can have compromised immune systems.
Its not like the thing just launched.
anyone ever seen a fish bowl? No matter how clean you get it there is always gunk buildup. The ISS is like a fish bowl, a closed system. as such of course there will be higher risks for pathogens.
the real question is are the filters doing their jobs??
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
Unfortunately much of the ISS is protected against harmful radiation. Some of the harmful radiation is very damaging to micro organisms..
I don't know much about the station's air filtration and purification. It may be time to introduce some UVA and UVB into the station to control the growth. This will both directly kill many as well as generating some ozone.
As the environment is adding food, and has no effective breakdown in place (soil), outbreaks taking advantage of the food source will be a normal cycle.
Cleaning to remove the food and colonies and population control with UV and ozone are options.
The truth shall set you free!
It's a big trailer that they've been living in for years, and you can't just air the place out. This seems like the expected outcome. Consider this part of the experiment. If it's really causing a deterioration of air and/or surface cleanliness vs. Earth-bound standards, fix it. Whatever solution you come up with might have applications for terrestrial hospitals, or other things we haven't thought of yet.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
The same happed to Mir.
"There are places you wouldn't want to stick a hand in." Kosmonauts were quoted.
The fascinating thing is that fungi are actually quite resillient and also can survice in a vacuum.
I'd guess that the environment in a space station favours fungi more than anything else.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca