Salmonella a worry.....if bacteria have been to space

[JCK88]

Something to think about

 

Salmonella Space Bugs

2007-09-25

 

Scientists have shown how bacteria in space can gain virulence. When Salmonella typhimurium food bugs were flown in special flasks on the shuttle, they were found to alter the way they expressed 167 genes. The bacteria were almost three times as likely to kill infected mice compared with standard samples held on Earth. S. typhimurium is one of the more difficult food bugs to treat with antibiotics, and long spaceflight missions would need to take care that good hygiene standards were maintained. Cheryl Nickerson, from the Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology at Arizona State University and her research team says that the space bacteria changed in response to the microgravity conditions they experienced on their 12-day Atlantis orbiter flight in September 2006. These bugs can sense where they are by changes in their environment. The minute they sense a different environment, they change their genetic machinery so they can survive. The research team discovered that a large number of the genetic changes appeared to be regulated by a protein known as Hfq. The group says that a drug developed to target Hfq could help protect astronauts from infectious disease during spaceflight and people on Earth. Currently, no vaccine exists for Salmonella food-borne infections in humans. The new study may offer possible solutions, the team believes.

 

Space bugs become more dangerous: [bBC NEWS]

 

 

 

 

 

Salmonella Space Bugs

2007-09-25

 

Scientists have shown how bacteria in space can gain virulence. When Salmonella typhimurium food bugs were flown in special flasks on the shuttle, they were found to alter the way they expressed 167 genes. The bacteria were almost three times as likely to kill infected mice compared with standard samples held on Earth. S. typhimurium is one of the more difficult food bugs to treat with antibiotics, and long spaceflight missions would need to take care that good hygiene standards were maintained. Cheryl Nickerson, from the Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology at Arizona State University and her research team says that the space bacteria changed in response to the microgravity conditions they experienced on their 12-day Atlantis orbiter flight in September 2006. These bugs can sense where they are by changes in their environment. The minute they sense a different environment, they change their genetic machinery so they can survive. The research team discovered that a large number of the genetic changes appeared to be regulated by a protein known as Hfq. The group says that a drug developed to target Hfq could help protect astronauts from infectious disease during spaceflight and people on Earth. Currently, no vaccine exists for Salmonella food-borne infections in humans. The new study may offer possible solutions, the team believes.

 

Space bugs become more dangerous: [bBC NEWS]

 

 

http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/news/...Space-Bugs.html

 

and

September 25, 2007, 12:26 pm

A New Reason to Fear Space Germs

By Mike Nizza

 

Tags: disease, science, space

 

 

Salmonella bacterium. (Photo: U.S.D.A./Photo Researchers) Hours after we learned that a wave of illnesses near a small meteorite impact in Peru were terrestrial in origin, a newly published study gave us a big reason to be glad: bacteria can be made deadlier by space travel.

NASA astronauts grew salmonella bacteria during an Atlantis space shuttle mission in 2006, and found that it had become three times as deadly to lab mice as its earthbound equivalents.

Why would that happen? Apparently, it wasn’t the near-zero gravity, at least not directly. The researchers, interviewed by The Associated Press, said that while they are not completely certain, they said the best explanation offered so far had to do with a little-known phenomenon called fluid shear.

 

Here is how Cheryl Nickerson, an associate professor at the Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology at Arizona State University, explained it to The A.P.:

“Being cultured in microgravity means the force of the liquid passing over the cells is low.” The cells “are responding not to microgravity, but indirectly to microgravity in the low fluid shear effects.”

“There are areas in the body which are low shear, such as the gastrointestinal tract, where, obviously, salmonella finds itself,” she went on. “So, it’s clear this is an environment not just relevant to space flight, but to conditions here on Earth, including in the infected host.”

Still, it’s hardly time to start shipping cases of Purell to the International Space Station. Astronauts have long been wary of microbial growth there, especially after a mysterious fungus started eating through the Mir Space Station.

No one got sick, but the problem was bad enough to prompt a Russian scientist to worry that destroying the station over Earth at the end of its service life could “do serious damage to humanity.” They did it anyway in 2001, and his worry proved unfounded.

NASA has a bunch of precautions for shuttle flights, including testing astronauts for infections, filtering the air onboard for microbes, disinfecting the water supply on the vehicle and keeping the ship spic-and-span with antibacterial wipes.

The results of the salmonella-on-the-shuttle experiment are being published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy

 

 

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/2...space-germs/?hp

[cookiejar]

Considering the Race for Space has heated up with Asia upping the ante. This is something to consider.

 

 

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/...1115727,00.html