Space Forum / Shuttle / September 2007

JimO: This doesn't make any sense to me. Germs have been hitchhiking
into space for almost fifty years, exposed to space conditions for months,
even
years aboard space stations, and no infectuous increase seems to have been
noticed -- far from it, long-term crewmembers see their immune systems
relaxing in
the absence of everyday earthside continual infectuous onslaughts. Is it
POSSIBLE
that these effect is due mostly, or entirely, to the procedure used?

Please help me understand.

Germs taken into space return meaner than before
By Randolph E. Schmid, Associated Press
  WASHINGTON - It sounds like the plot for a scary B-movie: Germs go into
space on a rocket and come back stronger and deadlier than ever.
  Except, it really happened.
  The germ: Salmonella, best known as a culprit of food poisoning.
  The trip: Space Shuttle STS-115, September 2006.
  The reason: Scientists wanted to see how space travel affects germs, so
they took some along - carefully wrapped - for the ride.
  The result: Mice fed the space germs were three times more likely to get
sick and died quicker than others fed identical germs that had remained
behind on Earth.