How Long Do Germs Survive on a Dry Surface?

Factual Questions
1

This question was partly inspired by a Seinfeld episode. George takes a library book into the bathroom with him. When he brings it back, the library “flags” it for fecal contamination, and it can never be circulated again.

My question(s) is/are simply this: how long can germs (fecal, cold, etc.) live on a dry surface with no visible soilage. Or put more simply, can germs indeed stay on a surface forever, like in the Seinfeld episode?

Thank you in advance to all who reply :slight_smile:

2

It depends entirely on the type of germ you are talking about. Some germs can last for days or years on a dry, apparently clean surface. Others can’t survive for more than a few seconds.

A cold virus can last several days on a cleanish dry surface. “Faecal germ” is incredibly broad, but hepatitis A can survive for at least 24 hours if the pages are damp while botulism spores could potentially last for years.

3

Do you know of any online chart that provides this information re: bacteria and viruses?

4

Not offhand. But if you do a Google search for [“survival time” environment “microbe name”] you should be able to find any specific organism you want. This is one of those areas where quite a bit of research has been done and is still being done.

5

Bacteria originally from Earth were found to have survived for 3 years on the surface of the moon when Apollo 12 brought back a piece of Surveyor 3.

From Wikipedia:**Perhaps Surveyor 3’s most remarkable finding, though, was a complete accident. A common bacteria, Streptococcus mitis, was unintentionally present inside the spacecraft’s camera at launch. Around 50 to 100 of these bacteria survived dormant in this harsh environment for three years, to be detected when Apollo 12 brought the camera back to Earth.**

6

It also depends on the surface.

Vinyl has been shown to resist certain bacteria:

From a vinylinfo.org site (cached):

"New types of safety vinyl flooring also have been proven to inhibit the growth of MRSA (methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus) – a nasty, antibiotics-resistant “superbug” that infects an estimated 80,000 hospital patients every year. "

Linseed oil and linoleum flooring supposedly works too.

“Research has found that the flooring, invented more than 100 years ago, has natural bacteria-killing properties.It means bugs such as MRSA and ella cannot live or breed on the surface. The effect is thought to be due to the anti-bacterial properties in the linseed oil used to make the linoleum…”

And this gourmet food site has a whole list of cites and discussions about wood vs. plastic cutting boards for bacterial resistence, dormancy and more.

-Tcat