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Person-to-person transfer of Candida albicans in the spacecraft environmentWe assessed the exchange of Candida albicans among crew members during 10 Space Shuttle missions. Throat, nasal, urine and faecal specimens were collected from 61 crew members twice before and once after space flights ranging from 7 to 10 days in duration; crews consisted of groups of five, six or seven men and women. Candida albicans was isolated at least once from 20 of the 61 subjects (33%). Candida strains were identified by restriction-fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) after digestion by the endonucleases EcoRI and HinfI; further discrimination was gained by Southern blot hybridization with the C. albicans repeat fragment 27A. Eighteen of the 20 Candida-positive crew members carried different strains of C. albicans in the specimens collected. Possible transfer of C. albicans between members of the same crew was demonstrated only once in the 10 missions studied. We conclude that the transfer of C. albicans among crew members during Space Shuttle flights is less frequent than had been predicted from earlier reports.
Document ID
20050000196
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Pierson, D. L.
(NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX United States)
Mehta, S. K.
Magee, B. B.
Mishra, S. K.
Date Acquired
August 22, 2013
Publication Date
May 1, 1995
Publication Information
Publication: Journal of medical and veterinary mycology : bi-monthly publication of the International Society for Human and Animal Mycology
Volume: 33
Issue: 3
ISSN: 0268-1218
Subject Category
Life Sciences (General)
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
Flight Experiment
short duration
STS Shuttle Project
manned
NASA Center JSC
NASA Discipline Environmental Health
Non-NASA Center

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