Sunita Williams and her crew reached the ISS on board the brand new Boeing Starliner spacecraft on June 6
New Delhi:
A brand new headache has mounted for NASA’s Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams and the eight different crew members on board the Worldwide Area Station (ISS) together with those that are at the moment inhabiting the orbiting station. A superbug lurks inside the town in house the Worldwide Area Station.
Scientists have discovered a multi-drug resistant micro organism named ‘Enterobacter bugandensis’ which has advanced and develop into stronger within the closed setting of the ISS. Since it’s multi-drug resistant, it’s typically referred to as a ‘superbug’. This micro organism infects the respiratory system.
Spacebugs should not extra-terrestrial life however bugs which have travelled as hidden co-passengers when the astronauts went to work on the ISS.
Ms Williams and her colleague Astronaut Barry Eugene “Butch” Wilmore reached the ISS on board the brand new Boeing Starliner spacecraft on June 6, 2024, and are prone to spend over every week within the low earth orbiting laboratory earlier than returning to Earth after having examined the brand new spacecraft she helped design.
The seven different crew members have been residing on the ISS for an extended interval. Often, the concern on the ISS is from flying house particles and micrometeorites however bugs which were carried as co-travellers and now advanced over the past 24 years of steady inhabitation of the house station are a giant new fear.
Writing concerning the superbugs not too long ago, NASA mentioned strains of the bacterial species E. bugandensis remoted from the Worldwide Area Station (ISS) had been studied. 13 strains of E. bugandensis, a bacterium infamous for being multi-drug resistant, had been remoted from the ISS.
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Findings from the research point out underneath stress, the ISS-isolated strains had been mutated and have become genetically and functionally distinct, in comparison with their Earth counterparts.
The strains had been capable of viably persist within the ISS over time with a big abundance. E. bugandensis co-existed with a number of different microorganisms, and in some instances may have helped these organisms survive.
Superbug Enterobacter bugandensis that thrives on the Worldwide Area Station (Courtesy: NASA)
The work has been spearheaded by Dr Kasthuri Venkateswaran of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, USA.
By the way, he studied Marine Microbiology, on the Annamalai College, in Chennai earlier than becoming a member of NASA. In 2023, he found a brand new multi-drug resistant bug referred to as Kalamiella Piersonii which he named after his position mannequin former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.
Additional analysis on E. bugandensis was undertaken collectively by JPL and Indian Institute of Expertise-Madras, Chennai by a workforce comprising Professor Karthik Raman, Division of Knowledge Science and AI, Wadhwani Faculty of Knowledge Science and AI (WSAI), Dr Kasthuri Venkateswaran, Senior Analysis Scientist at JPL, NASA, Mr Pratyay Sengupta, Mr Shobhan Karthick MS, Analysis Students, IIT Madras and Mr. Nitin Kumar Singh from JPL, NASA and printed within the scientific journal Microbiome.
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The researchers level out that astronauts working in altered immune circumstances with restricted entry to conventional medical services face distinctive well being challenges throughout house missions. Understanding the microbial panorama aboard the ISS is paramount for assessing the influence of those microorganisms on astronaut well-being.
Emphasising the broader implications of the analysis, Dr Kasthuri Venkateswaran, Senior Analysis Scientist at JPL, NASA, mentioned, “Our analysis uncovers how sure benign microorganisms assist to adapt and survive opportunistic human pathogen, E. bugandensis, within the unfavourable circumstances of the Worldwide Area Station. The information gained from this research would make clear microbial behaviour, adaptation, and evolution in excessive, remoted environments that permit in designing novel countermeasure methods to eradicate opportunistic pathogens, thus defending the well being of astronauts.”
NASA says ‘closed human-built environments, such because the ISS, are distinctive areas that present an excessive setting topic to microgravity, radiation, and elevated carbon dioxide ranges. Any microorganisms launched to those areas should adapt to thrive. By delving into microbial dynamics in excessive environments, this analysis opens doorways to efficient preventative measures for astronaut well being.’
Professor Karthik Raman mentioned, “Microbes proceed to puzzle us by rising in probably the most difficult circumstances.”
