It was known to be confirmed by the latest study which involves drug-resistant bacteria, scientists found that the germs that have immunity towards the antibiotic treatment have been able to score a residence aboard the ISS. The study, which is led by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Microbiologist Nitin Singh, examined at least 5 different strains of the Enterobacter bacteria.
These samples were actually collected way back in 2015 on the ISS from toilets and exercise equipments which were located within the station. Enterobacter is known to be among the most common as well as harmless member of the bacterial family. However, the strains resistant to drugs may still have been the cause of a number of hospitals being flagged in the past few years. In 2015 itself, an outbreak took place in neonatal unit of Tanzania which caused serious blood related infections in the newborn babies.
Singh, with his colleagues had actually assessed the intensity of these Enterobacter strains on the ISS while he was comparing the same with the antimicrobial-resistant pathogens that were found on Earth. For accomplishing this, the team eventually mapped out the space strains’ genomes while comparing them to almost 1300 known genomes of Enterobacter.
The analysis has also revealed genetically similar strains which were found with Enterobacter bugandensis in all of the five cases. This was known to be the same species of drug-resistant bacteria which was actually responsible for the outbreak in Tanzania which affected the newborns.
