No, no, don’t touch
Saturday October 18th 2008, 7:54 pm
Filed under: Knit

I was going to take and post pictures of the blocked red baby alpaca shawl today to show off before I mail it.  But. I did warn Mel and Kris that I’d woken up with a cold yesterday, and they decided it was worth the risk and came anyway. I hope nobody catches this from me.  My fever and I aren’t touching the knitting today, although that teal project’s got a deadline breathing down my neck.

Anyone know how long bacteria and viruses can live on a dry surface?


11 Comments so far
Leave a comment

wherever you picked up the germs, you likely had your knitting. and if not, you still had the germs before you got sick. . . not trying to make you feel bad, just take that into consideration.

Comment by dawn 10.18.08 @ 8:38 pm

I hope you get over this cold soon. The title “no, no don’t touch” makes me laugh. That was the name of the first sweater I ever knit. Oldest daughter was a toddler and was requested no, no don’t touch while I was knitting it. Of course it was for her.. When I put it on her she stood there with her arms outstretched screaming, NO NO DON’T TOUCH. She refused to wear it and it was all my fault. Now I see the humor, then I was upset at myself for leaving it out and telling her not to touch. The child is 26 now….

Comment by Donna in Ely 10.18.08 @ 8:59 pm

No, I don’t know, but surfaces can be washed.

Comment by LizzieK8 10.19.08 @ 6:03 am

Not very long on dry surfaces. They like warm and moist, so as long as you don’t blow your nose on it… 😉

Comment by Jocelyn 10.19.08 @ 8:12 am

Alison, heard on the radio the other day that there is a huge outbreak of a new skin infection on people’s chins, ears and mouth area — turns out it’s from virus’ that stay on a metal surface (cell phones) for up to two weeks! This was news to me — not much help, but something the dermatologists determined. You are not knitting your shawls in metals, so I think it’s OK to continue knitting and not pass on the germs. They’ll wash out in the blocking anyway with the soap — maybe add some nice smelling Listerine-type stuff????

Comment by Nancy 10.19.08 @ 10:42 am

Are you sure it’s a cold? I read somewhere the other day that a regular cold doesn’t usually have a fever with it. Of course, that’s a REGULAR cold, which this might not be. I hope you feel much better very soon! Knitting might make you feel better . . .

Comment by Joyce in NH 10.19.08 @ 10:54 am

Nancy, the rash from the cell phones turns out to be contact dermatitis from the nickel on the phone’s finish. So it’s not actually an infection, it’s an allergic reaction, kindao like I get to cheap jewelry. Although you can get infected after the rash starts as it compromises the skin’s integrity.
Alison, I’m not sure how long viruses last on hard surfaces, but I’m pretty sure it’s a fairly long time. Soap and water will kill them though. The area must be soapy for at least 20 seconds to do a really good job.

Hope you feel better soon!

Comment by Carol 10.19.08 @ 11:15 am

Hope you get to feeling better soon.Hugs Darcy
Most germs die in about 2-3 hours if they’re on a hard, dry surface. They can survive substantially longer, though if they’re on a warm, moist surface, such as a wet towel or toothbrush.

The actual amount of time any given virus or bacteria can survive outside a body really does vary depending on the organism and the surface- so it can be anytime between less than a minute to 2 days.

Comment by Darcy 10.19.08 @ 11:29 am

Depends on the virus. HIV/AIDS is not a hardy virus and will live for only a few minutes on a hard dry surface but Hepatitis will live for two weeks, according to what we learned from the Health Dept when I was running an alcohol/drug residential treatment center. I think cold virii are pretty hardy so I use Clorox on dishes and dishclothes when someone has a cold and get the surface wet with the disinfectant; then let it air dry.

Comment by sherry in idaho 10.19.08 @ 12:06 pm

Hope you are feeling better by now. Don’t know how I’ve manage to escape getting sick because everyone else in my office is not well.

Comment by Joansie 10.19.08 @ 2:20 pm

No idea how long a virus can live, and it seems like everyone else does, but I just wanted to say to Carol — when I was working at the hospital, we learned that, contrary to popular belief, soap and water don’t kill bacteria. They use mechanical action to lift the bacteria off your skin and into the soap bubbles, and then the soap is washed off you and down the drain. Those new alcohol hand rubs destroy bacteria by destroying the cell walls of the bacteria; they are considered to be better than soap and water because they kill more, and are easier to see if you’ve kind of gotten all the bits, and they are less likely to create “superbugs” by interactions with antibiotics.

Comment by Kristine 10.22.08 @ 12:56 pm



Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

(required)

(required)