The effects of microgravity on bacteria and our immune system
Absztrakt
Outer space holds many dangers due to its hostile environment to life as we know today. Humans have been traveling to outer space since the 1960s and those who have traveled along with their normal flora have been exposed to that hostile environment. Microbes have shown to react very differently from anything we have seen on earth when exposed to space exploration, changes can vary between different bacteria from life threatening to the astronauts on the one hand, and some on the other hand can be attenuated and pose a lesser threat than on earth. Furthermore, the different changes microbes present during and after spaceflight can potentially shed more light on bacterial physiology. The astronauts who are exposed to that hostile environment of outer space suffer from weakened immune responses to infections, rendering them immune compromised. With good and dedicated research we have a great and unique potential to study microbes in environments like we have never done before, and maybe find new ways of developing medications to treat microbial diseases.