It’s on everybody’s mind, to some extent, right now. If a surface is contaminated with the SARS-CoV-2virus, how long does it pose a risk of infection? The virus is thought to mainly spread through respiratory droplets. These are produced in a cloud when a person coughs or sneezes, or even talks. Some potentially-virus-laden droplets might end up getting breathed in by other people in the vicinity. But many of them end up landing on objects like door handles or water faucets. When that happens, infectious disease experts refer to that door handle as a fomite. And if a person then touches the fomite while the virus is still infectious, they can then spread it to new surfaces, or actually infect themselves. Fomites aren’t just for viruses -- any type of pathogen can create fomites -- but we’re talking about viruses… obvious reasons. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus particles don't last forever -- or even all that long. Eventually, the protein coat that allows the virus to actu
10. Suicide 2018 incidence: 48,344 Rate: 14.2 per 100,000 US standard population Percentage of total deaths: 1.7% The number of Americans who died by suicide accounted for 1.7% of the 2.8 million registered deaths. Encouragingly, the incidence of suicide did not increase from 2017. But, its rate increased by 1.4%, up from 14.0 per 100,000 in 2017 to 14.2 in 2018. 9. Kidney disease 2018 incidence: 51,386 Rate: 12.9 per 100,000 US standard population Percentage of total death: 1.8% Like suicide, the number of deaths from kidney disease did not change significantly from 2017, with a slight decrease in risk from 13.0 per 100,000 in 2017 to 12.9 in 2018. 8. Influenza and pneumonia 2018 incidence: 59,120 Rate: 14.9 per 100,000 US standard population Percentage of total deaths: 2.1% Unfortunately, deaths from influenza and pneumonia increased in 2018 and accounted for 3,450 more deaths compared with 2017. The death rate also increased 4.2%—from 14.3 per 100,000 in 2017 to 14.9 in 2018. 7.Di