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Awesome place! I wonder, can you get a cold in space that needs antibiotics? Specifically, after some time at the ISS and not carried from earth? If so,do the rest of the crew has to avoid you?

Thanks! jdiez

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marked as duplicate by Nathan Tuggy, Uwe, Hohmannfan♦ Jun 29 '17 at 6:54

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  • $\begingroup$ Short answer: Yes, you could get a cold, but in practice this rarely happens (its only happened once, see the above link) because astronauts have extensive medical screening on the ground. If you did get a cold, there are procedures (and antibiotics) for the event. See above for the ISS procedures, which you seem to be most interested in. $\endgroup$ – called2voyage♦ Jun 28 '17 at 17:33
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    $\begingroup$ Not exactly a cold, but Fred Haise got a UTI during Apollo 13. Illness in space does happen, though NASA tries to avoid it by pre-flight screening. $\endgroup$ – Sarah Bailey Jun 28 '17 at 18:52
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    $\begingroup$ A cold is caused by a virus, thus antibiotics don't help against it. $\endgroup$ – Uwe Jun 28 '17 at 22:27
  • $\begingroup$ 2 words: Wally Schirra. $\endgroup$ – Organic Marble Jun 28 '17 at 22:37
  • $\begingroup$ Catching a cold requires bringing the virus from earth; you can catch it after some time at the ISS only if someone infected arrives. $\endgroup$ – Peteris Jul 5 '17 at 21:19

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