Mutant Virus Strain Found on International Space Station
What’s mutated, drug-resistant, from space, and perhaps headed our way? No one’s quite sure yet, but it’s growing on the International Space Station, and there’s a possibility it could make its way back to Earth.
By Bram Teitelman · April 30, 2024
We’ve seen enough movies to know that when there’s a new strain of something due to mutation, the results can be… interesting. Godzilla without the nuclear waste? Just a boring old lizard. Peter Parker if a radioactive spider didn’t bite him? A dweeby high school kid before nerds became cool. Jeff Goldblum if that fly didn’t enter the transmitter pod? Well, Jeff Goldblum, which is still pretty awesome.
But if there’s one other thing we learned from movies, namely 1982’s The Thing, it’s that a bunch of highly trained professionals in a remote setting doesn’t always work out for the best. All of this is to say that there’s something going on at the International Space Station and that something is drug-resistant mutated bacteria that’s not only surviving, but thriving.
The International Space Station, consisting of NASA and four other space groups from Canada, Europe, Japan and Russia, has been in orbit for about 25 years (Russia has its own entrance - really). Over 300 astronauts have come and gone over that time, and anyone who’s ever had a roommate knows there’s always at least one that’s the “messy one” - and if you don’t know, then I regret to inform you that person is you.
Regardless, with many astronauts from different countries, some were bound to accidentally (?) bring in microbes with them via themselves or cargo. It took until five years ago to do a survey of bacteria and fungi on the space station. The results were enough to make you want to bring a black light with you next time you go to the Space Station, with them finding a healthy amount of bacteria that’s mutated to become more resistant to drugs.
A new study by PubMed—which is sadly not a magazine about bars near hospitals—focused on Enterobacter bugandensis, a particularly nasty gastrointestinal bug that was found on the ISS. Quartz reports that the study found that under stress, “E. bugandensis mutated to become more resistant to antimicrobial treatment.” It also said that the virus coexists with other viruses, even helping them survive.
What does this mean for us? It means that it may already be too late for us, although no one knows if this alpha dog mutated strain will make it to Earth or if it would do any more damage than a boring old earthbound Eneterobacter bugandensis. That said, it wouldn’t hurt to wash your hands more often, especially after meeting an astronaut.