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Germs Can Get Stronger In Space

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 29, 2007

Germs sent into orbit on the space shuttle last year came back to Earth three times more virulent, a finding that could have major implications for astronauts on the International Space Station or on proposed voyages to the moon and Mars.

Researchers know that space travel depresses astronauts' immune systems, so the observation that infectious agents can become more pathogenic in space could lead to new sterilization requirements for food and other items, as well as to new protocols for the treatment of infections during missions, experts said.

The findings could have relevance on Earth, said Cheryl Nickerson, a microbiologist at Arizona State University, who led the experiment.

Vials of the bacterium 'Salmonella typhimurium,' which is implicated in many food-poisoning outbreaks, were sent into space aboard the shuttle Atlantis in September 2006. Control bacteria were grown at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida under identical conditions - except for the presence of gravity.

When the bacteria were returned to Earth, they killed 40 percent of the mice into which they were injected. The bacteria from the space center killed 10 percent of the mice.

Los Angeles Times

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