A spacecraft really wouldn’t be a great place to suffer from, say, salmonella poisoning – but new research indicates that microgravity and prolonged space flight could give unique advantages to germs.
Microgravity not only weakens the immune system in some ways, but also increases the virulence and antimicrobial resistance of some microorganisms, says infectious disease specialist Dr Leonard Mermel of Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital. Meanwhile, without gravity, germs launched by coughs and sneezes no longer fall to the ground within a few feet, but continue to float around. This means they’re more likely to be inhaled by astronauts, and can settle on a wider variety of surfaces.