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The May 6, 2009 NASA article “Salmonella Spills its Secrets on the Space Shuttle” discusses why the Samonella bacteria grow three to seven times more dangerous on the Space Shuttle while orbiting the Earth than it did when grown on Earth.
It states, “Figuring out why could help safeguard astronauts from disease and lead to new treatments for food poisoning and other common ailments on Earth.”
Cheryl Nickerson, Arizona State University, and her colleagues are studying Salmonella bacteria in space and here on Earth. They want to know why it gets worse in space and how to get it under control here on Earth.
Dr. Nickerson states, "We think space travel tricks Salmonella into behaving as if it is in the human gut. It's a mechanical phenomenon having to do with 'fluid shear.'"
The NASA article states, “Salmonella microbes have the ability to sense the force of fluid moving past their outer surfaces. This "fluid shear" acts as a signal to the microbe, helping it to know where in the human body it's located.”
And, “Salmonella usually enters the body by hitching a ride on food that a person eats. In the middle of the tube-shaped intestines, the liquid-like mixture of half-digested food and digestive juices churns around quite a bit, so the amount of fluid shear is high."
However, when it gets to the intestine wall it swims into tiny spaces between microvilli (hair-like structures). This point is critical to whether the bacteria can cause infection inside our bodies or not.
Page two talks about why these scientists think there is a connection between these space-grown bacteria and what happens inside our bodies.
The scientists think that at this point (inside these tiny spaces near the microvilli) the bacteria begin to feel low fluid shear, which changes its motion and may likely help it to survive inside our bodies and cause us a lot of discomfort (infection, sickness, and all of that).
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Nickerson says, "Space flight is a low fluid shear environment,” as is the spaces between these microvilli. Thus, the connection.
They are continuing their studies of this connection. They are working with ions (charged particles) to artifically change the way this bacteria work.
The NASA article concludes with this statement from Dr. Nickerson: "One question people ask me is, 'Why in the world did you think of looking at [Salmonella in space]?' I turn that around and ask, 'Why would you not think of it!'" Nickerson says. "Whenever scientists have studied microbes under extreme conditions, we have found amazing new insights into how they function. Space flight is another extreme environment that's relatively untapped."
Read more of the story in the NASA article “Salmonella Spills its Secrets on the Space Shuttle.”
If their research is successful, we may not have to put up with the nasty illnesses that is caused by the Salmonella bacteria.
More information on Salmonella and salmonellosis, the medical condition is causes, is found on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website “Salmonellosis.”
Additional information on the Nickerson studies on Salmonella is found in the NASA article "Experiments May Lead to Ways of Neutralizing Virulent Microbes."
