'Spacebug' Detected In ISS, Trouble For Crew Including Astronaut Sunita Williams

After arriving at the International Space Station (ISS), Astronaut Sunita Williams, alongside her crewmate Barry Eugene Wilmore and the rest of the crew who were already present there have a new concern at the space station. A superbug, by the name of Enterobacter bugandensis, has been identified as being present on-board the ISS.

While the ISS sometimes send superbugs up to the ISS to study the effects of space on their mutations, this particular superbug wasn't sent in a controlled manner. It travels alongside astronauts, initially harmless until the conditions up in space force it to mutate and possibility cause harm to the people its inhabiting.

Professor Elisabeth Grohmann, an author from the Beuth University of Applied Sciences Berlin spoke with Frontiers about this issue back in 2019, stating, "Spaceflight can turn harmless bacteria into potential pathogens. Just as stress hormones leave astronauts vulnerable to infection, the bacteria they carry become hardier - developing thick protective coatings and resistance to antibiotics - and more vigorous, multiplying and metabolizing faster."

NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore arrive at the ISS on June 6, 2024 at around 3:45 PM EDT through the Boeing Starliner spacecraft. in a recent blogpost, NASA spoke about the extended stay of the the two new astronauts, Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore, up to June 18th, wherein they are also prepping for a spacewalk on June 13th. This extra time will allow the crew to perform further checks on the Starliner's systems.

In an article released by NASA in April, a study was conducted on Enterobacter bugandensis isolated from the International Space Station (ISS), a bacteria notorious for being resistant to a variety of drugs. Principal Investigator Dr. Kasthuri Venkateswaran of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory led the study, and found that due to the stressful environmental condtions aboard the ISS, the strains of this bacteria which were isolated from the ISS had mutated.

The strains were different from their counterparts on Earth, able to survive and multiply rapidly aboard the ISS over time. This, coupled with the limited medical facilties aboard the ISS means that astronauts may be at great risk of becoming sick or worse.