Researchers Analyze two strains of Burkholderia that colonized space station’s water dispenser

A new paper published February 19, 2020, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE (“Genomic and phenotypic characterization of Burkholderia isolates from the potable water system of the International Space Station” 19 February 2020), reports that the water dispenser aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in 2009, periodic sampling showed that two bacteria, Burkholderia cepacia and, Burkholderia contaminans were contaminating the drinking water. Burkholderia species can cause opportunistic lung infections in people with underlying health conditions and are very difficult to kill using common sterilization techniques. The bacteria have persisted in the water dispenser despite periodic flushing with an extra-strength iodine cleaning solution. All of the B. cepacia and B. contaminans strains were highly similar and likely descended from original populations of these two bacteria that were present in the water dispenser when it left Earth. @ https://scitechdaily.com/researchers-analyze-nasty-species-of-bacteria-that-has-colonized-space-stations-water-dispenser/