PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR(S) 



James K. Ferguson, Gary W. 

 L. Portnoy 



McCollum, and Benjamin 



EXPERIMENT TITLE/NUMBER : Analysis of the Skylab Flight Crew Health 



Stabilization Program 



PROGRAM/MISSION : Skylab 2, 3, ** 



CLASSIFICATION : Human 



DISCIPLINE(S) : Environmental health 



OBJECTIVES : To reduce the probability that a crewman would come into contact 

 with an infectious disease agent during the critical time periods of each 

 mission . 



PROTOCOL : Isolation periods were established prior to launch, as well as 

 postf light, in order to reduce the number of infectious illness contacts 

 between crewmen. The number of personal contacts with the crewmen was 

 limited, and ill persons were not permitted to enter primary work areas. 

 Initially, all persons who required contact with the flight crewmen during a 

 21 -day period before flight were identified. Physical examinations and 

 immunizations were given to the identified personnel. Voluntary reporting and 

 active surveillance were used to detect illness occurrences and exposures to 

 illness among the primary contact personnel. A 7-day postf light isolation 

 period was added to protect the crewmen from any increased susceptibility to 

 infectious diseases. 



EQUIPMENT : None identified. 



RESULTS : The most frequently reported illness contacts were upper respiratory 

 infections. Enteric illnesses were the next most common illness, but these 

 were relatively rare compared to upper respiratory infections. The results 

 indicate that the Flight Crew Health Stabilization Program successfully 

 accomplished its goal in reducing the number of illness exposures to flight 

 crewmen. 



CONCLUSIONS : The effort made to reduce the number of primary contacts was of 



greatest importance to the goals of the program. Limiting crew contact to a 



defined and medically controlled population of primary contacts should be 

 continued in future programs. 



PUBLICATIONS : 189, 190 



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