An outbreak of any illness aboard the Space Station poses problems for the crew. Even one person who is sick can infect others very quickly. The danger of the entire Space Station crew falling ill at the same time, raises wider safety issues. The health of the crew are a major priority in the day-to-day management of the Space Station.
In the introduction, we found five factors that needed to be taken into account when considering microbes and the Space Station in general. All those five factors apply to controlling infection on the Station.
What factors do we need to consider? These perhaps.
- Pre-flight medical examinations
- Screening of crew during selection and pre-flight
- Swabbing the throat to test for infection
- Urine sampling to test for infection
- Isolation of sick crew members
- Comprehensive on-board Medical support and evacuation when necessary
- Air-filtering and ionization to remove microbes
- Air-sampling to check air quality
- Disinfection and cleaning of surfaces
- Innoculation of crew to prevent diseases
- Personal Hygiene Rules
- Food rules - precautions against food-poisoning
- Diet - Vitamins and mineral supplements
- Bio-lab procedures
- Emergency escape
- Airlocks to isolate areas of the Space Station that may have contaminated atmospheres
- Incineration/irradiation and isolation of used medical equipment and supplies, and labatory bio-hazards
Orbital Space Settlements
Regenerative Life Support
Space Station Life Support Systems
Teachers Wormhole
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