Nevertheless, certain microbes can pose a health threat to the Station's crew and even attack the materials and hardware of the Station itself. Scientists and engineers at NASA must find ways to keep such microorganisms on the Space Station under control. Living in a Microbial World A 5000x scanning electron microscope image of E. Coli bacteria. It is a normal resident of human intestines and provides vitamin K and some of the B vitamins. The Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis , The University of Queensland, Australia.
Microbes are everywhere.
You can wash and scrub and use antiseptic soap, and you'll still have microbes on your skin. Many people may find the thought of microbes living on and in their bodies disturbing, but living with an entourage of stow-away microbes is natural. 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.