Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works dot com where smart Happens. I am Marshall Brain with today's question, how long can a germ live in a room? The length of time a germ remains infectious depends mostly on the type of german is. A germ can be either a virus or a bacterium, and each virus and bacterium has a different behavior in the environment. For example, the smallpox virus is incredibly durable. It can last for years.
Anthrax is the same way. Fortunately, smallpox has been eradicated and anthrax is not very infectious. The AIDS virus is fragile. It's only viable for a few hours. Hepatitis B, on the other hand, may survive for up to a week. Some diseases can't survive outside the human body at all. Syphilis and got a rea share this trait, and therefore
they depend on intimate contact for transmission. Quite a few common diseases seem to fall into the several days to several weeks category for survival time outside the human body. So the answer to the question is it depends on the disease. Fortunately, your immune system is able to handle the vast majority of bacteria and viruses that your body encounters. Just About everything we touch is covered with germs. They usually have no effect on us because our immune systems
deal with them. Also fortunate is the fact that simple hygiene steps like washing your hands thoroughly before eating, can reduce the chance of infection significantly. Do you have any ideas or suggestions for this podcast? If so, please send me an email at podcast at how stuff works dot com. For more on this and thousands of other topics, go to how stuff works dot com.