Sept. 24, 2007 — Strains of salmonella bacteria flown as part of a space shuttle experiment last year grew more virulent in orbit, providing researchers with new insights about how to prevent and cure infectious diseases.
There was no chance the shuttle crew that flew with the super bug would get sick, though Salmonella typhimurium typically is to blame for food poisoning on Earth. The bacteria was contained in a special chamber throughout the 12-day flight of shuttle Atlantis in September 2006.
Post-flight analysis suggest that changes in fluid flows around the bacteria caused by microgravity affected how the Salmonella's genes made proteins, making it more deadly than identical strains grown simultaneously in ground-based units at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
"This particular pathogen is doing things differently than the way it does when we grow it in the lab," Arizona State University researchers Cheryl Nickerson, the experiment principal investigator, told Discovery News. "Spaceflight profoundly changed the response of the salmonella."
Astronauts' food is rigorously inspected and packaged to assure its purity, especially since spaceflight seems to suppress parts of the immune system, making crewmembers more susceptible to disease. Combined with a virulent bacterial bug, that could make for one miserable space mission.
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The research has broad implications for disease control on Earth, however. In addition to calculating environmental factors such as temperature, oxygen levels, acidity and other factors that influence bacterial growth, scientists have a new attribute to examine and possibly tinker with in designing medical procedures and drugs, Nickerson said.
