Exposure to the spaceflight environment evidence indicates alterations in microbial virulence and astronaut immune function. While preventive measures limit the presence of many medically significant microorganisms during spaceflight missions, microbial infection of astronauts cannot be completely prevented and does occur, despite stringent vehicle cleaning and monitoring, as well as a quarantine of astronauts prior to flight. Infectious disease events occur during spaceflight missions; however, current countermeasures mitigate most of the impact on crew health and performance based on evidence from previous missions.
ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti processes microbe samples collected for Veggie Monitoring. This investigation is expected to help establish requirements to protect plant-growth systems, plants, and crew members from contamination on future long-duration missions.
NASA
Directed Acyclic Graph Files
+ DAG File Information (HSRB Home Page)
+ Microhost Risk DAG and Narrative (PDF)
+ Microhost Risk DAG Code (TXT)
Human Research Roadmap
+ Risk of Adverse Health Effects Due to Host-Microorganism Interactions
