# Do Salmonella bacteria die of natural death if left out? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 15, 2008, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-salmonella-bacteria-die-of-natural-death-if-left-out/477281 "2008-12-15T20:14:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Wikipedia_Cites)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-salmonella-bacteria-die-of-natural-death-if-left-out/477281/1 "2008-12-15T20:14:20Z")
Ok – when chopping up a chicken with the ol’ meat cleaver, I cleaned up as best I could. But supposing the handle of my cleaver got raw chicken juice on it – if i faield to do anything else, how long would it take for any potential salmonella germs to die, if the cleaver is just hanging on my kitchen wall? Do the germs die over time, or are they just waiting there, like a virus? ---
**Author:** ![YamatoTwinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cc9497/32.png) [@YamatoTwinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YamatoTwinkie)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-salmonella-bacteria-die-of-natural-death-if-left-out/477281/2 "2008-12-15T20:53:55Z")
salmonella generally needs moisture and the absence of direct sunlight to survive. I imagine that if you left a contaminated knife out long enough, the drying and UV would probably kill **most** of the bacteria. ---
**Author:** ![No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Wikipedia_Cites)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-salmonella-bacteria-die-of-natural-death-if-left-out/477281/3 "2008-12-15T21:02:50Z")
Any time line on how long the germs can survive?