Infectious disease in Antarctica and its relation to aerospace medicine: a review

In many aspects, an Antarctic Station provides parallels to the environments encountered in space exploration, particularly with reference to infectious disease. In both instances, small groups of people live in isolation for long periods of time in a functionally sterile atmosphere. Therefore, studies of infectious disease in Antarctica should provide important insights into the experiences to be expected in spaceflight. This paper presents a summary of the information on the infectious and immunologic aspects of isolation derived over the years from research in Antarctica.