Germs Taken Into Space May Come Back Deadlier

westlake writes "Sounds like the plot for a B-movie, doesn't it? Germs go into space and come back stronger and deadlier than ever. Except, it really happened. In a medical experiment, salmonella carried about the space shuttle in the fall of 2006 proved far more lethal to lab mice than their earth-bound source. 90% dead vs. 60% dead in twenty-six days, with half the mice dying at 1/3 the oral dose. Apparently 167 genes in the space-evolved strain had changed. The likely cause: In microgravity the force of fluids passing over the cells is low, similar to conditions in the gastrointestinal tract, and the cells adapted quickly to the new environment."

Re:So clearly...

[Anonymous Coward]

Or breed better mice.

I know...

[PixelScuba]

This was first documented in 1988 [imdb.com], but they don't want you to know about it.

Well...

[mdm-adph]

Apparently 167 genes in the space-evolved strain had changed.

I'm sure that once faith-based initiatives take hold in space (due to the right political appointee) and spaceships become intelligently designed this will no longer be a problem, right?

Re:Mutations

[faloi]

What's the policy for de-bugging astronauts, anyway?

Same as any other de-bug problem. Blame Microsoft and hope for a patch.

But seriously... I know there's some post flight isolation probably accompanied by standard physicals and rehabilitation for those that underwent extended stays in space. My guess is they're relatively thorough, but if if the astronauts are harboring something that isn't detected and they don't show any symptoms it could be a "bad thing." With all the isolation and health checks before, during, and after though, it's probably not a terrible risk. Or at least it's been fairly safe so far.

One Giant Virus for Mankind

[Doc Ruby]

The AIDS plague "patient zero" is estimated to have become infected in 1969, the year men returned from the moon.

This plague that has killed millions of people, primarily among homosexual men, perhaps originated in a tiny canister of testosterone-pumped men trapped in a tiny metal can thousands of miles from Earth, with only each other to turn to in conditions of unprecedented stress and lonliness.

Yep, it does sound like the plot from a B movie - by John Waters.

Re:conditions outside the body

[morgan_greywolf]

A deadlier disease with lower infection rate might actually be less of a risk: hosts die more quickly and not enough new hosts get infected.

As long as it's you who gets infected and not me, I agree. ;)

Bacteria.

[Dunbal]

Just remember WHO this planet belongs to after all.

I for one welcome our mutated Moneran overlords.

Re:conditions outside the body

[Anonymous Coward]

A deadlier disease with lower infection rate might actually be less of a risk: hosts die more quickly and not enough new hosts get infected.

As long as it's you who gets infected and not me, I agree. ;)

Both you and the parent are not paying attention to the true significance of this story. What would happen if bacteria was on a satellite for years and then came back to the Earth? Everybody has always assumed that it was meteors or bioweapons lab leaks that were causing zombie outbreaks, but it could just as easily be supergerms that are so highly evolved that they can control the dead!

Isn't it entirely probable, nay likely even that an old Soviet bioweapons satellite is going to crash sometime with germs that will reanimate the dead on a large scale?

Re:One Giant Virus for Mankind

[Anonymous Coward]

Damn, now I've got problems: On one hand, there have never been humans on the moon, on the other hand they brought AIDS back from there! :-)

Re:conditions outside the body

[mr_mischief]

I think you just hit on th very idea of foresight. It's one of those things that's supposed to separate the higher mammals from things like bacteria and from natural processes like evolution, after all.

That is, unless someone believes in sentient bacteria or a divine hand of an intelligent God/gods guiding evolution. Anything left to chance and trial will ultimately only rarely see a trade of a short-term negative for a long-term positive, because it would have to happen by chance and without conscious effort.

Re:Emphasis on 'may' here

[ColdWetDog]

I wonder if there are other mutagenic factors at work here, other than zero-gravity. Cosmic radiation, for instance.

It doesn't really make any difference. All the experiment really shows is that:

1) Grow bacteria
2) Alter environment
3) Change gene expression (via mutation, removal of suppression, whatever biologic mechanism you'd propose)
4) Write grant proposal (the 64 million dollar question - that's one hell of a grant)
5) Profit!

Doing it in space is even way cooler than doing it on the Internet. I smell a patent application. You might even get a free trip to Florida!

So THAT'S what happened with Jason X!

[Fluchs]

I kept telling people how realistic this movie was!
http://imdb.com/title/tt0211443/ [imdb.com]
"Evil Gets an Upgrade." Man, so ahead of its time.

Re:conditions outside the body

[Anonymous Coward]

Mutation tends to be more random than not, so you are likely to get organisms that cannot actually DO anything useful (assuming making zombies is useful) or lack any particular advantage over the original species. In fact they may be sterile or weakened.

Irradiated flesh doesn't turn into the Hulk or glow or become self-intelligent. No. It just dies

I have several thousand volumes of books (comic books) that contradict you. Who should I believe, some Nobel prize winning biologist who has only written a couple dozen scientific papers in his life (and only a couple dealing with radiation) or Stan Lee who has published hundreds of volumes dealing with the biological and social effects of radiation?

Suppose the germ developed a version of itself that was 100% lethal and then killed its own host before the host could spread it. Well the germ dies too, doesn't it?

Not if it reanimates the dead! Did you miss that part? These germs are going to be so deadly that they take you past 'dead' and bring you to 'undead.' You might even say that they are undeadly! The only thing that they need to survive is a highly dense energy source that their host body could consume--maybe something like the brains of unsuspecting victims.

Evilution

[Citizen of Earth]

Apparently 167 genes in the space-evolved strain had changed.

But evolution is impossible! The Kansas school board told me so. This must be another NASA conspiracy like the fake moon landings.

Germs

[skeftomai]

When I first read that, I thought it said, "Germans Taken Into Space May Come Back Deadlier."

Re:conditions outside the body

[RealGrouchy]

But, if I become undead, then becoming dead isn't as much of a bother, then, isn't it?

- RG>

Re:conditions outside the body

[mr_mischief]

So you're saying evolution is like MacGuyver?

Re:conditions outside the body

[Anonymous Coward]

But, if I become undead, then becoming dead isn't as much of a bother, then, isn't it?

How do you kill that which has no life? :D