More microbes could help improve human health in space, research reveals why

Living in space sounds fascinating. Some live this dream at the International Space Station (ISS), which is a habitable artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The astronauts live and work for extended periods, gazing at the world rotating in front of their eyes.

Astronauts face numerous challenges while at ISS as they are exposed to space radiation, which can harm both humans and electronic equipment.

There's also an issue of microgravity, and its prolonged exposure can cause health problems, such as muscle and bone loss.

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Mental health challenges are also there due to a confined environment, as living in space can be isolating. But besides everything else, there is a problem of too much cleanliness.

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A new study, published in Cell Press, suggests that the issues astronauts face, such as immune dysfunction, skin rashes and other inflammatory conditions, could be due to the excessively sterile nature of spacecraft.

The study said that the ISS has a significantly lower diversity of microbes than human-built environments on Earth.

The majority of the microbes that are present are species that humans have brought onto the ISS, which suggests that adding more natural microbes could improve human health there.

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"Future built environments, including space stations, could benefit from intentionally fostering diverse microbial communities that better mimic the natural microbial exposures experienced on Earth, rather than relying on highly sanitized spaces," says co-first author Rodolfo Salido of the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego).

To conduct the study, the researchers collaborated with astronauts who swabbed 803 different surfaces on the ISS.

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The researchers here on Earth identified which bacterial species and chemicals were present in each sample. They created three-dimensional maps to show where each was found on the ISS and how the bacteria and chemicals might be interacting.

Nina Zhao of UC San Diego, co-first author, said, "We noticed that the abundance of disinfectant on the surface of the International Space Station is highly correlated with the microbiome diversity at different locations on the space station."

The researchers found that the ISS microbial communities were less diverse than most of the samples from Earth when they compared the ISS to different human-built environments on Earth.

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They found that ISS microbial communities showed similarity to samples from industrialised, isolated environments, such as hospitals and closed habitats.

The ISS surfaces lacked free-living environmental microorganisms, which are typically present in soil and water, in contrast to the majority of the Earth samples.

They suggest that intentionally introducing these microorganisms and the environments in which they thrive within the ISS could enhance astronaut health without compromising personal hygiene.

The researchers contrast their proposal with the well-established immune-boosting effects of gardening.

"There's a big difference between exposure to healthy soil from gardening versus stewing in our own filth, which is kind of what happens if we're in a strictly enclosed environment with no ongoing input of those healthy sources of microbes from the outside," said Knight.

(With inputs from agencies)