- Messages
- 96
How long can they survive outside of the body? Say, on a brush.
Depends what we're talking about, and depends on the conditions. The thing everyone freaks out most about is HIV, but HIV survives particularly poorly outside the body. On the other hand hepatitis C has been shown to remain infectious in dried blood spots at room temperature for six weeks. Obviously everyone knows tetanus spores remain viable outside the body for many years.
Staphylococcus Aureus and various forms of Streptococcus can potentially survive for months outside the body, and cause anything from a minor skin infection or abscesses to MRSA and necrotising fasciitis respectively.
Until somebody decides to conduct research specifically into the risk of infectious diseases posed by sharing shaving brushes, it's going to be difficult to speculate.
As I said before, I'd guess the risk would be minimal. After all, a shaving brush is being cleaned every time it's used. But probably not very effectively given the nature of a brush, and it's not being disinfected or sterilised between uses, or on being passed between users.
Last edited: