Quote:
Originally Posted by pinksequins
IUHoosier, how long can the virus live on certain surfaces? Take, for example, a wet towel or a wet bar of soap? (Articles note disinfecting apartments).
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On dry surfaces, not too long. The virus actually starts to degrade within minutes--so in whole, it's probably only on your average dry surface for a couple of hours. Doesn't mean it's necessarily contagious, however. It's also easily killed by standard disinfection procedures (aka household bleach). Rather wimpy when it comes to dry surfaces, actually. It's not like anthrax, which has a protective bubble around it so it can live for years in the soil.
Not sure about a 'wet' surface as you define it. Virus in bodily fluids (like a blood tube) can live for a couple days at room temp, but a bar of soap =/= blood. I personally wouldn't handle linens without protective gear just because of the type of contact with the patient. They're more likely to come in contact with the 3 big viral load carriers--blood, feces, and vomit.
High levels of Ebola have not been seen in saliva except in the sickest of patients (think near death or dead), and whole virus has never been seen in sweat. There was a study done in 2007 in an active Ugandan Ebola ward that swabbed ~40 different places (bed rails, stethoscopes, etc.) and NONE of them tested positive for the virus.
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