A germ that causes food poisoning and other illnesses can be three times more dangerous in space than on the ground, an experiment has shown.
The finding spells out tougher challenges for astronauts taking trips to the moon or Mars, as recent work also hints that the body’s immune system weakens during extended stays in space.
“Space flight alters cellular and physiological responses in astronauts including the immune response,” said Cheryl Nickerson, a microbiologist at Arizona State University and leader of the experiment. “However, relatively little was known about microbial changes to infectious disease risk in response to space flight.”