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.

Comments

Wouldn't they be dead already?

[Anonymous Coward]

Its not like the thing just launched.

Re:Wouldn't they be dead already?

[KGIII]

Whenever I see "potentially dangerous" I automatically assume "mostly harmless." So far, it has been fairly accurate. I figure, if it were really dangerous, they'd say stuff like, "HOLY SHIT!" When I see "potentially dangerous," I think butter knife.

Re:Wouldn't they be dead already?

[KGIII]

It'd probably help if they stopped lying to us on a regular basis.

fish bowl

[ganjadude]

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??

Re:fish bowl

[Nutria]

"Who do we send up next?".

Who's running for US President???

And Putin. Definitely Vladimir Putin.

Re:fish bowl

[fahrbot-bot]

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.

And the astronauts hate it when you tap on the glass.

Re:fish bowl

[SharpFang]

Putin will kill all these pathogens with his bare fists.

Re:fish bowl

[Talderas]

Russian's don't arm bears. They saddle them and use them for cavalry charges.

Earth Is Home To Potentially Dangerous Bacteria

[Anonymous Coward]

There's a little known, dirty story about Earth: It's filled with bacteria and fungi. A new study has found compelling evidence that microorganisms from human skin are present throughout the planet, and some of the bugs could cause serious harm to humans.

replicate earth air purification

[Technician]

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.

Re:replicate earth air purification

[cnettel]

It's not like putting a sliced tomato on the kitchen sink in a humid climate will prevent other parts of your kitchen from attracting any mold spores around. Bacteria and prokaryotes are mostly incapable of macrosopic movement (especially in air). They are also able to rapidly expand populations. Therefore, a "colonist" doesn't choose to move to the best spot, foregoing a worse one. They will try everywhere. If they gain a foothold, that foothold is likely to just unleash further colonists into the less hospitable, but still slightly viable, habitats.

UV filtration?

[Dutch Gun]

Doesn't intense UV light kill those sorts of bacteria? Generally speaking, I understand that the effectiveness of UV filtration of air is reduced with moving air flow (since effectiveness is a function of time and UV intensity), but on a space station, the same air is going to be re-circulated many thousands of times, so you have the advantage of repeated passes.

Would that not be effective, or was NASA simply under the impression that a HEPA filter would be adequate for the job?

Re:UV filtration?

[JoeMerchant]

And, there's plenty of intense UV light right outside, just open the windows once in awhile.

Re: UV filtration?

[Dutch Gun]

I'm not so sure. Isn't the concern more about the total amount of bacteria, not the fact that it was present at all? The point isn't to turn it into a clean room - that's a fruitless exercise with humans living there. After all, humans are pretty good at dealing with residual bacteria in our environment, so long as it's in reasonably small doses. The idea is just to reduce the airborne concentration a bit down to "normal" levels, not to sterilize the station.

Housekeeping

[PopeRatzo]

So basically, the ISS is like a Super 8 motel room, but in space and without the complimentary cable.

Remember Mir?

[Applehu Akbar]

By the time it reached end-of-life, the first space station became famous for hosting fungus mats of an unknown species:
http://www.straightdope.com/co...

Re:Remember Mir?

[Anonymous Coward]

By the time it reached end-of-life, the first space station became famous for hosting fungus mats of an unknown species:
http://www.straightdope.com/co...

From your link: "The fungal infestation came to light in 1988, when Mir inhabitants noticed that a porthole was obscured by what one alarmist described as "an unknown film that was spreading like some horror-movie scum." Closer examination revealed green-and-black encrustations behind control panels, inside air ducts, and in other nooks and crannies throughout the spacecraft. The stuff didn't literally eat metal and plastic but did give off corrosive chemicals such as acetic acid. Acetic acid is basically vinegar, so one doesn't want to become unnecessarily alarmed. Still, the acid pitted Mir's titanium, plastic, and glass, suggesting that the spacecraft's structural integrity might be threatened if the fungus were left unchecked."

Re:Remember Mir?

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

Ah, yes... your 'technology' is mine to devour!

I'd be surprised if it were not full of bacteria

[istartedi]

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.

Problematic

[BoberFett]

Can we retire the word "problematic" already? Anytime someone uses it, I instinctively tune out anything said afterward.

OMG Phylum?

[engineerErrant]

"The Actinobacteria phylum includes..." OMG I'm scared! Except that biology classification is a bit over-broad...

Let's review what badasses *our* phylum includes:

- The honey badger.
- The Kodiak bear.
- The goddamned T-Rex.
- that Japanese guy who killed bulls with nothing but karate

In a phylum-off, I'm betting on Team Chordata.

Ozone treatment will kill the pathogens.

[dsmatthews9379]

All they need to do is section off areas of the station and expose them to ozone on a rotating basis. Come on NASA why is this a hard problem for you?

Mir was a fungi greenhouse in the end.

[Qbertino]

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.