Ebola - Survival Outside Host

Is the Alcohol you buy at Sams or Costco work? If not where do I get stronger Alcohol?

If you went shopping during an ebola outbreak I would think that you'd want to wear goggles and a mask over your mouth and nose. Once you got home you would have to disinfect everything with a bleach solution out in your garage, strip naked, put your clothes in a washing machine with bleach, and take a shower with anti-bacterial soap.

Does anyone have any other ideas on how to go grocery shopping during an epidemic? Hopefully, we'll have enough food to sit in place and not have to go out, but who knows how long this could circulate.

My concern relies on how long this virus can stay alive on surfaces.

LOPPER wrote: Albert wrote: If a case were to reach a place such as New York in the winter time, I believe it will be able to stick to surfaces for approximately a week.   With that in mind, despite what some experts say about what will happen in the U.S., it "could" possibly be worse than ever expected - including that of Africa.   The facts are what they are....  This virus was not meant for a cold climate and they need to make sure that never happens at all costs.  Unfortunately time is running out. Well since early symptoms of ebola mimic those of the flu I wonder how long it would take to overwhelm the health care system during flu season if everyone with the flu went to the hospital or sought medical attention thinking they possibly had ebola. And then add in the fact that if there did happen to be a case of ebola here and there they would be mixed in with those with just the flu in the crowded hospitals which would further spread the virus.

Good post Lopper, and completely agree with that.  Either way you go on this, there is going to be panic and unease this winter and flu season.   People will have no clue in the beginning symptoms what they have, and Ebola can also enter the U.S. fully cloaked.    Interesting times ahead.

Which is why the health agencies keep downplaying our fears.

If a case were to reach a place such as New York in the winter time, I believe it will be able to stick to surfaces for approximately a week.   With that in mind, despite what some experts say about what will happen in the U.S., it "could" possibly be worse than ever expected - including that of Africa.   The facts are what they are....  This virus was not meant for a cold climate and they need to make sure that never happens at all costs.  Unfortunately time is running out.

If I'm understanding this correctly, Ebola, which is part of of the filovirus family, can survive outside the host for quite some time in cold temperatures.  This would also mean that in N. America or Europe during the winter months, Ebola would surge "almost" similar to influenza.   We're a little lucky at the moment that it's confined to Africa where it's hot -

SURVIVAL OUTSIDE HOST: Filoviruses have been reported capable to survive for weeks in blood and can also survive on contaminated surfaces, particularly at low temperatures (4°C) ^{Footnote 52 Footnote 61}. One study could not recover any Ebolavirus from experimentally contaminated surfaces (plastic, metal or glass) at room temperature ^{Footnote 61}.  In another study, Ebolavirus dried onto glass, polymeric silicone rubber, or painted aluminum alloy is able to survive in the dark for several hours under ambient conditions (between 20 and 250C and 30–40% relative humidity) (amount of virus reduced to 37% after 15.4 hours), but is less stable than some other viral hemorrhagic fevers (Lassa) ^{Footnote 53}. When dried in tissue culture media onto glass and stored at 4 °C, Zaire ebolavirus survived for over 50 days ^{Footnote 61}. This information is based on experimental findings only and not based on observations in nature. This information is intended to be used to support local risk assessments in a laboratory setting.

A study on transmission of ebolavirus from fomites in an isolation ward concludes that the risk of transmission is low when recommended infection control guidelines for viral hemorrhagic fevers are followed ^{Footnote 64}. Infection control protocols included decontamination of floors with 0.5% bleach daily and decontamination of visibly contaminated surfaces with 0.05% bleach as necessary.

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/lab-bio/res/psds-ftss/ebola-eng.php