They were here before us and they'll probably be here afterwards. K. A person's resident microbes also actually protect them from infection by competing with dangerous microbes looking for a place to grow. Most of these exchanged microbes are fought off by the crew's immune systems and their own resident microbes, Pierson noted, but the potential for infection is there. The first step in protecting the health of the crew is testing each crewmate for infection before launch. Only healthy crew members are allowed to fly into space, and they're quarantined before launch to prevent them from contracting harmful germs at the last moment.
Fungi come in a wide variety of sizes and forms.
Many medicines are produced with the help of fungi, most notably, the antibiotic, Penicillin. Mushrooms are fungi we buy at the supermarket. Once on the Space Station, the air , water and surfaces with which the crew members interact must be kept clean. Microbes can ride in the air on particles of dust or in tiny clumps of bacteria or fungi . On Earth, there might be a couple hundred or thousand microbes in each cubic meter of air.