One would imagine that the International Space Station would be a place where the common contagions found on Earth would not be found. Unfortunately it seems that microbial and fungal colonies seem to thrive there just as they would on the surface of the planet. What’s more while the fungal communities are stable, the microbial communities change over time.

The microbes were found littered across the International Space Station by a team of NASA researchers with a consistency that one would associate with a gym or an officer on Earth. They are just as likely to threaten the health of the astronauts on the space station, as they are to make the people in an office fall ill due to constant exposure.

The microbes found were mostly human associated ones which are considered opportunistic pathogens on Earth. Examples of microbes found include Staphylococcus aureus, Pantoea and Bacillus. Given that there are currently six residential astronauts on the International Space Station, someone may want to take up a clean up drive to ensure that no one falls ill in space.

Think about it as a science project whose sole aim is to ensure that the residents of the ISS remain healthy during the time that they serve on the space station.