Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 5, 2025

Swabbing the Urban Environment - A Pipeline for Sampling and Detection of SARS-CoV-2 From Environmental Reservoirs
Published on: April 9, 2021
Persistence of SARS-CoV-2 on surfaces and relevance to the food industry
Christopher A Baker1, Kristen E Gibson1
1Department of Food Science, University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, Fayetteville, AR 72704, USA.
Abstract:
Determining the prevalence and persistence of viruses outside the human host aids our ability to characterize exposure risk across multiple transmission pathways. Since 2020, the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic has resulted in a surge of research regarding severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its potential to spread via direct and indirect contact transmission routes. Here, the authors discuss the current state of the science concerning SARS-CoV-2 transmission via contaminated surfaces and its persistence on environmental surfaces. This review aims to provide the reader with an overview of the currently published SARS-CoV-2 persistence studies, factors impacting persistence, guidelines for performing persistence studies, limitation of current data, and future directions for assessing SARS-CoV-2 persistence on fomites.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Microorganisms in Agriculture and Food industry
Infection
The chain begins with pathogens: bacteria, viruses, fungi, prions, or parasites such as protozoa helminths. These can be present on the skin as transient or resident flora, or they can be acquired from the environment. Identifying and treating the type of infection and...
Transmission-based Precautions I: Contact, Enteric, and Droplets
Contact Precautions:
Contact precautions are the measures taken to prevent the transmission of infectious agents, especially epidemiologically important microorganisms such as MRSA or influenza, primarily transmitted through direct or indirect contact with an...
Healthcare Associated Infections II: Preventive Measures
The best practices for preventing healthcare-associated infections include hand hygiene, patient risk...
Surface Membrane Barriers
The outer layer of the skin, the epidermis, is a robust barrier comprising layers of closely packed keratinized cells. This dense arrangement prevents microbes from penetrating the body. The periodic shedding of epidermal cells...
Methods for Controlling Microbial Growth

