Staphylococcus epldermus and Micrococcus . 



Staphylococcus aureus was isolated on aquanauts 4 and 1 during the mission, 

 Diver 1 was not a nasal carrier at the start of the mission but was both 

 a nasal and skin carrier by the end of the mission. Nasal 

 Staph , aureus was not recovered from diver 4 on the 3 sampling occasions. 



Ear Bacterial Flora . The bacteria flora of the ear was sampled on three 

 occasions, twice before the start of the mission and once just prior to 

 the decompression. A composite of the frequency of isolation (by diver) 

 of the various bacteria is presented in Table 5. 



The bacterial flora of the ears was varied for the group with nine 

 different organisms represented at the start of the mission and 11 at the 

 end. Those organisms which were isolated from the skin surface were also 

 found in the ear flora. The distribution and types of organisms isolated 

 represented a normal flora, mainly of the Gram-positive variety, with the 

 exception of Citrobacter and Enterobacter isolated on day 13 from divers 

 3 and 2 respectively. 



Staphylococcus aureus was not isolated from the ears at the start of the 

 mission but was isolated from divers 1 and 3 at the end. Pseudomonas 

 or other Gram-negative bacteria which may have caused external ear infec- 

 tion were not evident nor did the divers experience ear infections during 

 the mission. 



Coliforms were not isolated from sea water samples collected in the area 

 of the habitat. 



Discussion . Fortunately, the first mission of the TEKTITE-II program 

 was uneventful as far as medical problems among the divers were concerned. 

 The bacteriological data is supportive in that no obviously pathogenic 

 organisms were isolated from the divers nor were there indications of 

 infections developing at the end of the mission. 



The airborne bacterial distributions in the two compartments were 

 decidedly different as to types of bacteria and their numbers. The wet 

 lab had a some what simplified flora in comparison to the crew-bridge 

 compartment. This probably is a reflection of the greater activity of 

 the divers and more opportunity for re-aerosolization from bed linen 

 etc. in the crew-bridge compartment. 



The airborne general bacterial population was within normal limits in 

 both compartments, exceeding 30 organisms /ft-* on one occasion, day 12 

 in the crew quarters. Cobet & Dimmick (1970) observed a gradual in- 

 crease in the airborne bacteria during the first 13 days of TEKTITE-I. 

 This was not observed in this mission, in fact there was a gradual 

 decrease in the levels observed in the wet lab. 



The airborne marine bacterial population was within normal limits with 



IX-49 



