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The received wisdom has always been that spacecraft need to be as microbe-free as possible, but our @ScienceDesk shared this New Scientist story that says the situation might be more complex. “On the space station, astronauts often get rashes, unusual allergies, fungal or bacterial infections, as well as activation of latent viruses such as Epstein-Barr,” writes Michael Le Page. Professor Pieter Dorrestein of the University of California San Diego told Le Page his theory is that the immune system needs to be periodically “pinged.”

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2470149-spacecraft-may-need-to-be-dirtier-to-keep-astronauts-healthy/