Immunological Aspects of Reactivation of Latent Infections in Space Flight and Antarctica

Abstract

The complex of space flight (SF) factors can have a negative impact on the human organism, including the innate and adaptive immunity. One of the negative effects of impaired functional activity of the immune system is a decrease of latent infections immunological control. During short- and long-term SF, reactivation of latent viruses was shown, while the virus was detected in body fluids for some time after returning to Earth. Despite the fact that in most cases reactivation was asymptomatic, there are fears that during long expeditions into deep space, reactivation of latent pathogens can lead to the development of diseases that are dangerous to the crewmembers health. There is a lot of data about the viral pathogens reactivation in SF, but the reactivation of bacterial agents in cosmonauts has received almost no attention. Due to the complexity of conducting research in space, an important role is played by ground-based analog experiments that simulate the space station conditions. One of the most significant analogues of SF is the long-term Antarctic expedition, which makes it possible to obtain unique information about the effect of isolation, increased mental and physiological stress on the latent pathogens reactivation. Currently, latency is increasingly considered as a symbiotic existence of a pathogen and host, during which the human body acquires additional resistance to certain infectious agents. Thus, an important task of the upcoming research is a comprehensive analysis of the personal immunological status in the SF, establishing its relationship with the latent infections reactivation and developing systems for monitoring, preventing and treating the negative consequences of reactivation.