# dead animal carrying diseases **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 24, 2001, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-animal-carrying-diseases/51547 "2001-01-24T14:47:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![justinh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@justinh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justinh)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-animal-carrying-diseases/51547/1 "2001-01-24T14:47:51Z")
how long does a dead animal have a living virus/bateria in its body? If a animal/human dies of a disease, what causes the disease to die? ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-animal-carrying-diseases/51547/2 "2001-01-24T21:38:59Z")
I put “virus survive dead animal” into Google and got the following (among others). [http://www.dot.state.ny.us/progs/safety/sb-92-1a.html](http://www.dot.state.ny.us/progs/safety/sb-92-1a.html) > [@](#): > > Employees engaged in removing animal carcasses from the roadways and right-of-way should be aware of the spread of Rabies in New York State, and of the need to guard against exposure to animals infected with the Rabies virus… > The Rabies virus can survive for long periods of time in the carcass of a dead animal… [http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/library/lvstk2/samplers/mf962.htm](http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/library/lvstk2/samplers/mf962.htm) > [@](#): > > Live rabies virus will not last more than 24 hours in a dead animal when temperatures reach 70°F. However, the virus will survive for extended periods of time at low or freezing temperatures… [http://www.maf.govt.nz/MAFnet/articles-man/rbag/rbag0002.htm](http://www.maf.govt.nz/MAFnet/articles-man/rbag/rbag0002.htm) > [@](#): > > How long does rabbit calicivirus persist in the environment? > > Under experimental conditions, the virus can survive up to 225 days at 42 degrees C (on live tissue such as liver), but for only 2 days at 60 degrees C. It has been detected for 105 days at 20 degrees C when dried on cloth. The virus can survive in the pH range 3-8. > > The virus may persist for an even shorter period in a natural environment, depending on temperature and sunlight conditions. In trials on Wardang Island, the virus persisted for less than one week in rabbit-free warrens. The virus may persist longer on infected carcasses, but it does not multiply in dead rabbits. It looks like there’s been a lot more research done on rabies than anything else. You can search some more, if you want. 🙂 > **[Google](https://www.google.com/)** > > Happy Day of the Dead 2021! #GoogleDoodle If by the second half of your question you mean, “Why does the virus die?”, it dies because its host organism is dead. A virus is a kind of parasite. The ones that can survive when dried on cloth are just waiting until another host comes along that they can infect and then live on (and in). Same thing with bacteria. They usually can only live in one certain kind of environment, like inside a dog’s body, and when the dog dies, the bacteria’s perfect environment disappears. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-animal-carrying-diseases/51547/3 "2001-01-24T21:38:59Z")
> [@](#): > > how long does a dead animal have a living virus/bateria in its body? WAG - pick it apart. That depends largely on the environment. If the environment is harsh enough (say, in Antarctica buried under a thick layer of snow and ice) there will probably be no living virii or bacteria on or in the body in a matter of hours. If the environment is friendly (say, the Amazon) bacteria would be present until there is no longer a source of food, possibly until totally decomposed. > [@](#): > > If a animal/human dies of a disease, what causes the disease to die? Still WAGging. Again, it depends on the disease. Cancer would die, like healthy tissue, from a lack of nutrients normally supplied by the blood. Virii and bacteria would die due to lack of nutrients or harsh environment, whichever came first. How fast either of those condition occur depends on many different factors. ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-animal-carrying-diseases/51547/4 "2001-01-24T22:06:13Z")
[slight topic diversion] FYI: Drugs can stay in deceased animal tissue for quite some time, also. Case in point: we had a situation in northeast Florida some time ago where Bald Eagles were turning up stupored or dead. Tests and necropsies on the eagles showed high levels of barbituates. Turns out, euthanized animals (either from a shelter or vet, I do not have the article in front of me) were taken to a landfill without being cremated first, as per state law. Eagles, being scavengers, were consuming the euthanized animals and were poisoned by the euthanizing agents. As I recall, the company in question paid quite a hefty fine. [/slight topic diversion] ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2001, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-animal-carrying-diseases/51547/5 "2001-01-27T00:25:03Z")
On the question of diseases surviving after a human victim’s death: One of biggest factors in the spread of the Ebola virus is touching of the dead body. The virus had the good fortune to appear in a place where family members customarily wash the corpse before burial. Tragically, Ebola would thus wipe out entire families. This custom was changed as a precaution, and the virus’s spread was drastically cut.