Outside the earth, the spread of virus will be significantly different than on the earth. With the worldwide spread of new coronaviruses, we might imagine what would happen if the virus spread to space?

Throughout the history of aerospace, it is very rare for astronauts to get sick in space. Although far away from the ground, astronauts sometimes suffer from upper respiratory infections, colds, urinary tract infections, and skin infections.

Astronauts caught a cold in space during the Apollo 7 mission in 1968. This has had a significant impact.

Commander Wally Schirra most likely boarded the space shuttle with a mild cold and transmitted it to other astronauts who ate up all the medicines, consumed paper towels, and Refusing to wear a helmet when returning to Earth's atmosphere.

The astronauts of Apollo 8 and Apollo 9 also encountered similar difficulties, and they also experienced a cold.

After these missions, NASA implemented pre-flight isolation, requiring astronauts to have limited contact with others and monitor at any time to ensure the health and safety of the crew.

But how have things changed since these early cases of space disease? At some point in the future, will astronauts struggle with more serious diseases in a more difficult space environment?

How is disease different in space

Due to the enhanced communication capabilities between the earth and space, today's astronauts can already obtain medical assistance on the ground in space when they encounter an emergency medical situation.

In fact, medical experts on Earth even helped an astronaut suffering from blood clots on the space station.

However, when humans enter space, the way the disease spreads and how viruses and other pathogens behave in the body changes.

From the stress of the body at launch to living in a closed environment without the gravity of the earth, even "common diseases" like a cold can make a big difference to astronauts.

Space flight can change the human body in many strange ways, and scientists are still working on a comprehensive study of it. The most obvious is that extreme conditions of launching rockets into space can cause motion sickness, affecting spatial positioning and physical coordination.

Once in space, changes in stress hormone levels and other space flight physiological reactions can cause changes in the body's immune system.

Astronauts may have become accustomed to having a "good immune system" on Earth, but they may be more susceptible to illness and even allergic reactions in space.

Pathogens such as influenza viruses and even coronaviruses may be more easily transmitted in microgravity environments, such as on the International Space Station. The absence of gravity prevents particles from settling, so they are suspended in the air and spread more easily.

To prevent this from happening, the cabin must be ventilated, and high-efficiency particulate air filters in the air will remove particulates.

In addition, scientists have found that dormant viruses respond to the stress of space flight, while viruses like herpes simplex virus are reactivated or "woke up" during space flight.

And ongoing research suggests that enhanced bacterial toxicity in space may reduce the effectiveness of antibiotic treatments.

There are some antiviral drugs that can be used to prevent the spread of the virus, many of which are considered when a virus epidemic occurs on Earth.

In addition, for planetary missions, astronauts will be quarantined when they return to Earth, just as in earlier missions they returned from the moon.

What should astronauts do?

Whether in the confined space of a space station or in future moon or Mars settlements, the spread of disease will pose a very real threat to future astronauts, just like the threats faced by previous generations of astronauts.

So what will astronauts do when we are working on Earth to find the best way to stop the spread of the new coronavirus disease "COVID-19"?

As mentioned earlier, we know that this type of virus may spread more easily in space, and that treatments may be different.

Isolating a sick astronaut in space may face additional challenges, but this is likely to be one of the next response procedures.

It is difficult to isolate in a small space, but if astronauts have symptoms of upper respiratory tract infections, they will be isolated in the sleeping area and put on a mask to curb transmission, while cultivating and identifying this microorganism for proper management. treatment.

If astronauts are isolated on the International Space Station, the US part of the International Space Station is equipped with high-efficiency particulate air filters, which regularly wipe the surface of objects and perform microbial monitoring.

However, for future outbreaks of diseases on the Moon or Mars settlements, we are not yet sure what will happen, after all, we have not yet returned to the Moon or sent a manned mission to Mars.

Of course, given the historical case of the Apollo era, astronauts might take steps similar to those we did on Earth, such as isolation.

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Special Report: Fighting The New Coronavirus