PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (S ): Gerald R. Taylor, Kathryn D. Kropp, Mary R. 



Henney, Suzanne S. Ekblad, Anwar A. Baky, Theron 

 0. Groves, Thomas C. Molina, Jean G. Decelle, 

 Carolyn F. Carmichael, Nina J. Gehring, E. Landrum 

 Young, 1. L. Shannon, William J. Frome, and N. R. 

 Funderburk 



EXPERIMENT TITLE/NUMBER : Microbial Exchange, AR-002 



PROGRAM/MISSION : Apollo-Soyuz Test Project 



CLASSIFICATION : Human, Microorganism 



DISCIPLINE(S) : Environmental health 



OBJECTIVES : To evaluate components of the infectious disease process in space 

 flight by measuring alterations in the composition of the microbial 

 populations inhabiting the crewmembers and spacecraft, the ability of each 

 crewmember's defense mechanism to resist infection, and the ability of certain 

 microorganisms to originate infections. 



PROTOCOL : Sample specimens were collected from 10 sites on the Apollo and 

 Soyuz crewmembers and from 15 areas on the inner surfaces of each spacecraft 

 at specific times pre-, inflight, and postf light. Saliva and blood samples 

 were also collected pre- and postflight. Analyses included dilution and 

 plating of specimen materials, isolation of microbial colonies, and evaluation 

 of growth properties on the initial isolation media. 



EQUIPMENT : Microbial collection and storage device. 



RESULTS : A variety of potential pathogens was recovered from each of the 

 crewmembers pre- and postflight. However, no disease events were reported. 

 Candida albicans and Staphylococcus aureus were shown to be transferred from 

 one crewmember to another during flight. No other medically significant 

 changes were observed. 



CONCLUSIONS : The proposed simplification of the population of medically 

 important microorganisms, and the theorized postflight microbial shock could 

 not be supported by the results of this study. 



PUBLICATIONS : 511, 512 



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