*Check out the video above to see the ISS photographed from northeast Ohio in September.
(Stacker) — This is a startling discovery straight out of the dark depths of science fiction horror. On the International Space Station, Discovered by NASA 13 strains of a multi-drug resistant superbug. Its name is Enterobacter bugandensis.
Enterobacter bugandensis
That nickname may be awkward to pronounce, but this bug is no joke: Mutated in the unusual (and unusually isolated) environment of space, these microscopic foreign beings are genetically very different from their terrestrial cousins and have developed drug resistance.
In other words, the presence of this giant bacteria and its incredible resistance to terrestrial medicines poses a significant health risk to astronauts.
IIT Madras and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) The study is a collaborative effort to investigate in detail the spread, distribution, colonization patterns and adaptation of the superbug E. bugandensis.
It’s like something out of a sci-fi or horror movie.
Lurking on a space station like the villain in a John Carpenter movie (or Sand Dunes: Part 1), space microbes grew and thrived uninterrupted in deeply embedded, largely uncontaminated systems. Iron acquisition and interactions with other organisms helped develop their unique resilience.
Scientists have found that several notable genomic nuances and antibacterial feats of survival give these strains superbug capabilities. Overall, the adaptations the bacteria has acquired in space are very different from those seen in terrestrial strains.
Intimidating Adaptation
Of particular interest is the full display of this bacterium’s remarkable ability to withstand the harsh realities of space – a resilience that emerges from a complex web of interactions between this giant bacterium and other microbes, as the space station carries a host of other microbial stowaways.
Space pathogens not only differ from the normal harmless growth kinetics of microorganisms in the space station, but also represent a potential health risk, particularly to the respiratory system of astronauts.
Microorganisms (or microbes) like superbugs, some of the oldest living organisms on Earth, are constantly adapting to survive in the harshest environments, including microgravity. In space, microorganisms like E. bugandensis have no choice but to make genomic changes: either do so or perish.
Accomplishing these genome transformations makes the worm genetically unique, completely distinct from its distant relatives on the pale blue dot.
Astronauts’ immunity is a concern
The space station is home to a variety of important microbes, including superbugs, as well as bacteria and fungi, that are extremely flexible and have a high survival rate. Microbes like the superbugs on the space station are reinventing themselves, so to speak, to survive, and they will almost certainly develop resistance to antibiotics. Naturally, to mitigate these risks, NASA aims to continue ongoing research and conduct new investigations, especially targeting E. bugandensis.
Of particular concern is that astronauts’ immune systems will be weakened while they are on the space station, and any mega-pathogens discovered could particularly attack these astronauts and cause illness in a less than ideal environment, a challenge that will obviously be compounded by the limited access to medical facilities in space.
Earth-bound health risks?
The presence of this powerful bacterium poses a legitimate risk to the health and safety of those aboard the space station, and it’s hard not to imagine the danger, even if fanciful, of a disease carried by this superbug reaching Earth.
The research on the superbug was conducted by Dr. Kasturi Venkateswaran of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, with contributions from a joint team from JPL and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras.
