Germs sent to space come back meaner, scientist reports

CNN ^ | 9/25/2007 | CNN

[Red in Blue PA]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- It sounds like the plot for a scary B-movie: Germs go into orbit on a spaceship and come back stronger and deadlier than ever.

But it really happened.

The germ: Salmonella, best known as a culprit in food poisoning.

The trip: Space shuttle mission STS-115, September 2006.

The reason: Scientists wanted to see how space travel affects germs, so they took some along -- carefully wrapped -- for the ride.

The result: Mice that were fed the space germs were three times more likely to get sick, and died more quickly, than mice fed identical germs that had remained behind on Earth.

[AntiKev]

What is the normal recovery-time/down-time after a space flight and what are the conditions that astronauts normally seem to be recovering from, after a space flight?

Generally for short-duration missions, well trained astronauts are able to function again upon return. This applies mostly to the military/test pilot astros, the civilians generally take longer as they are not in as good physical condition. (Barbara Morgan was not available for a few hours after the STS-118 mission because she was re-acclimating). Generally the re-acclimation is to gravity and does not involve any gastrointestinal symptoms.

I would imagine that after every mission the crew gets a couple of weeks of downtime, like you would expect if you had such a stressful job for 2 weeks. But I would be surprised if much of it was spent dealing with gastrointestinal problems.

The long-duration crew members have much the same recovery as the short-duration ones, except it takes them longer to get re-acclimated to gravity. They are probably on "light duty" for up to a month. Again, I haven't heard anything about gastrointestinal issues with astros after a spaceflight.

[CougarGA7]

That’s because it’s cold and it really pisses them off.

[Wuli]

“Again, I haven’t heard anything about gastrointestinal issues with astros after a spaceflight.”

So, that point could question my guess that maybe things like gamma rays helped cause mutations in the samples of salmonella they were testing; for, as another poster asked me, then wouldn’t gamma rays cause mutations in the “bugs in the gut” the astronauts have. I guess my guess was wrong.

[darth]

During the joint missions to the Russian space station in the early 1990s a cosmonaut got a small infection in a cut finger. Within days it had infected his entire arm up to the shoulder. It looked like it could turn fatal. Only massive doses of antibiotic saved him. There’s a lot we don’t know about space travel.