"Here's How You Get Ebola"

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

My guess is a microdrop in the eye is a theoretically possible route of transmission, but a very unlikely one. None of the people who shared air, bathroom, etc. with Duncan are sick yet (cross fingers....)

Viruses, even if they are languishing in sweat, tears, spit, blood etc., are not particularly hardy once they are no longer inside the body.

There is no one specific time point that the HIV virus survives outside the body. But we can say that the virus will normally live only for several minutes. The more body fluid that there is, the longer the virus will survive outside the body. But normally, within a few minutes, the virus will be dead. The longer the virus is outside the body, the weaker the virus gets, and the less the chance of transmission. As an example, if you take a small drop of blood outside the body, the blood will dry rapidly and the virus will die rapidly. If you have a large quantity of blood outside the body, it will take longer for the blood to dry, and therefore, longer for the virus to die. The virus cannot live in dried blood. Luckily, the virus has evolved to survive only in the specific environment inside the human body. Once you take it out of the human body, it cannot survive. You can think of it another way. Think of a great white shark. In it's normal environment, it is a killing machine. Take that same shark and take it out of the water. The shark will be dead within a very short period of time and become totally harmless. HIV is the same way. In the human body, it is a killing machine. Take it outside of the human body, and it dies rapidly, and becomes totally harmless. If you have further questions regarding this matter, please feel free to contact me again.

Rich Sowadsky, MSPH. Nevada State Health Division AIDS Program.

This pretty much goes for Ebola virus as well although it appears to be a bit more hardy outside the body than HIV. Perhaps several hours on non-porous surfaces, and perhaps a day or two in blood that is outside the body. But you still have to get it into your mouth, or eyes, or an open wound for transmission to occur. Which is probably why we aren't seeing positives for people in Duncan's family.