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Herpes Virus Reactivation in Astronauts During Spaceflight

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Re: Herpes Virus Reactivation in Astronauts During Spaceflight

#61

Post by ekianjo »

serf wrote: post #57
SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I highly doubt that HSV-1 is anywhere near 60% in the pool of astronaut candidates. Disease presence is correlated: if you have one, you probably have another. Since lots of other diseases would already be disqualifying, adding HSV-1 to the checklist won't strike off very many potential astronauts. Dude, I've had cold sores since I was a child. There's no relationship between HSV-1 and other diseases.

>Dude, I've had cold sores since I was a child. There's no relationship between HSV-1 and other diseases. Repeated (chronic) bacterial or viral wounding doesn't result in increased cancer risks? I find that hard to believe.

so are you saying that you have data to show correlation between HSV 1 and other diseases? Please share.

Re: Herpes Virus Reactivation in Astronauts During Spaceflight

#62

Post by Eleopteryx »

nostrademons wrote: post #51
burfog wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So almost 40% of humanity does not have HSV-1. Astronaut selection is already severe. You don't get selected if you have tuberculosis, diabetes, amputations, or deafness. Once selected, you won't go on the launch if you are sick with the flu. It doesn't seem like HSV-1 needs to be a problem in space. Simply add that to the gigantic list of conditions that prevent space travel. I highly doubt that HSV-1 is anywhere ne…

It's related to age, as you would expect from any contagious virus that's ubiquitous in the environment and doesn't go away. 0.01% of newborns have HSV-1 [1]; 90% of 50-year-olds have it [2]. The 40% of humanity without HSV-1 are largely under 30. Your typical astronaut is much more likely to be towards the 40-50 year old end of the scale. [1] https://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/pediatrics/infecti... [2] https:…

It says "90 percent of adults have been exposed to the virus by age 50", but I didn't think that exposure necessarily meant infection.

Re: Herpes Virus Reactivation in Astronauts During Spaceflight

#63

Post by Eleopteryx »

newnewpdro wrote: post #48
icedchai wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know? Have you had HSV blood tests?

In my 20s. I suppose it's remotely possible that I contracted HSV since then without ever having any symptoms, but my understanding of HSV is that with all forms the initial infection is obvious so that's quite unlikely. We're not talking about HPV, which I (and you) very likely have wether we know it or not, without vaccination.

>I suppose it's remotely possible that I contracted HSV since then without ever having any symptoms

It actually is. Most people are asymptomatic, or their symptoms are so mild that they confuse them for a pimple.

https://www.cdc.gov/std/herpes/stdfact-herpes-detailed.htm

Re: Herpes Virus Reactivation in Astronauts During Spaceflight

#64

Post by gibybo »

trhway wrote: post #32
ericol wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The stigma against" is exclusively a US bound thing. I consume a lot of media (Plus memes) from the US, and people make a real fuss about it. In my country people give it the same importance as a simple cold.

widespread cold sores in a given society i think have 2 pronged effect: 1. a something widespread does usually have naturally higher societal acceptance 2. [IANAD] kind of "de-facto" vaccination/immunization. For example i (like many many Russians) have occasional cold sores (once in a 1-4 years, in CA seems to be less frequently than back in Russia) since childhood. I've had it on both sides of my lips which probabl…

>That also means that i never going to get it anywhere else on my body (once any one site in the body gets infected with herpes the rest of the body develops immunity)

Do you have a source for that? I have somewhat suspected that was the case based on some other things I've heard, but I have been unable to find any real sources on it.

Re: Herpes Virus Reactivation in Astronauts During Spaceflight

#65

Post by nostrademons »

newnewpdro wrote: post #41
rjurney wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone gets it. It just goes away, often for years. There's no cure. Like colds.

Speak for yourself, I don't have any form of HSV. One advantage to being a quiet friendless nerd throughout my youth was never catching chickenpox.

Not having chickenpox (and not being vaccinated for it) isn't really an advantage. Chickenpox as an adult is serious business: complications like pneumonia and encephalitis are much more common, and there's a significantly higher risk of death or hospitalization (75% of deaths from chickenpox are in adults, despite If you didn't get it as a kid you really should get vaccinated for it as an adult. Being exposed to the attenuated form of HHV-3 in the vaccine is way safer than actually catching the disease.

Re: Herpes Virus Reactivation in Astronauts During Spaceflight

#66

Post by w-ll »

nabla9 wrote: post #22
xkcd-sucks wrote: post #5

Space is cool, but I didn't see any gravity related controls nor any other space specific controls. Consider that the relationship between stress (HPA axis, etc.) and viral activation is pretty well known. Models of chronic rodent stress include constant loud noise, uncomfortable environmental scale (open spaces versus "comfortable" places with places to hide/nest), weird lighting and temperature, "violent" (freaking…

I would humbly suggest submarine crews as control group. Canned air, tight space, weird sleep cycles, noise and artificial light. Submarine crews are even more isolated because they can't contact families while underway.

Or even saturation divers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturation_diving

Re: Herpes Virus Reactivation in Astronauts During Spaceflight

#67

Post by taneq »

nabla9 wrote: post #22
xkcd-sucks wrote: post #5

Space is cool, but I didn't see any gravity related controls nor any other space specific controls. Consider that the relationship between stress (HPA axis, etc.) and viral activation is pretty well known. Models of chronic rodent stress include constant loud noise, uncomfortable environmental scale (open spaces versus "comfortable" places with places to hide/nest), weird lighting and temperature, "violent" (freaking…

I would humbly suggest submarine crews as control group. Canned air, tight space, weird sleep cycles, noise and artificial light. Submarine crews are even more isolated because they can't contact families while underway.

Also airline crews? They get to do their high-pressure job in lower-than-normal air pressure, they get shaken around in a tin can and their sleep schedules are shot to hell.

Re: Herpes Virus Reactivation in Astronauts During Spaceflight

#68

Post by freeflight »

nabla9 wrote: post #22
xkcd-sucks wrote: post #5

Space is cool, but I didn't see any gravity related controls nor any other space specific controls. Consider that the relationship between stress (HPA axis, etc.) and viral activation is pretty well known. Models of chronic rodent stress include constant loud noise, uncomfortable environmental scale (open spaces versus "comfortable" places with places to hide/nest), weird lighting and temperature, "violent" (freaking…

I would humbly suggest submarine crews as control group. Canned air, tight space, weird sleep cycles, noise and artificial light. Submarine crews are even more isolated because they can't contact families while underway.

I'd imagine this whole "being strapped to a ton of explosives and using them to fly" moment is a tad bit more extreme and stressful than a submarine dive.

After that, they both have similar constant stress factors, but imho the launch alone is probably way more than what anybody on a submarine would go through.

Re: Herpes Virus Reactivation in Astronauts During Spaceflight

#69

Post by morothy »

ekianjo wrote: post #61
serf wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Dude, I've had cold sores since I was a child. There's no relationship between HSV-1 and other diseases. Repeated (chronic) bacterial or viral wounding doesn't result in increased cancer risks? I find that hard to believe.

so are you saying that you have data to show correlation between HSV 1 and other diseases? Please share.

Herpes and Alzheimer's https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/07/herpes-v...

more on HN: https://hn.algolia.com/?query=herpes%20alzheimer&sort=byPopu...

Re: Herpes Virus Reactivation in Astronauts During Spaceflight

#70

Post by SubiculumCode »

xkcd-sucks wrote: post #5

Space is cool, but I didn't see any gravity related controls nor any other space specific controls. Consider that the relationship between stress (HPA axis, etc.) and viral activation is pretty well known. Models of chronic rodent stress include constant loud noise, uncomfortable environmental scale (open spaces versus "comfortable" places with places to hide/nest), weird lighting and temperature, "violent" (freaking…

I mean you are right, but in the articles I read, their hypothesis is exactly about stress.
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