Fomite
A fomite (/ˈfoʊmaɪt/) or fomes (/ˈfoʊmiːz/) is any inanimate object that, when contaminated with or exposed to infectious agents (such as pathogenic bacteria, viruses or fungi), can transfer disease to a new host.
[1] A fomite is any inanimate object (also called passive vector) that, when contaminated with or exposed to infectious agents (such as pathogenic bacteria, viruses or fungi), can transfer disease to a new host.
[3] Fomites such as splinters, barbed wire or farmyard surfaces, including soil, feeding troughs or barn beams, have been implicated as sources of virus.
[citation needed] In addition to objects in hospital settings, other common fomites for humans are cups, spoons, pencils, bath faucet handles, toilet flush levers, door knobs, light switches, handrails, elevator buttons, television remote controls, pens, touch screens, common-use phones, keyboards and computer mice, coffeepot handles, countertops, drinking fountains, and any other items that may be frequently touched by different people and infrequently cleaned.
[2][14] However, further research called into question the relevance of such tests, instead finding fomite transmission of SARS-Cov-2 in real world settings is extremely rare when standard cleaning procedure are followed.
[15][16][17][18] Contact with aerosolized virus (large droplet spread) generated via talking, sneezing, coughing, or vomiting, toilet flushing & produced toilet plume[19] or contact with airborne virus that settles after disturbance of a contaminated fomite (e.g. shaking a contaminated blanket).
During the first 24 hours, the risk can be reduced by increasing ventilation and waiting as long as possible before entering the space (at least several hours, based on documented airborne transmission cases), and using personal protective equipment (including any protection needed for the cleaning and disinfection products) to reduce risk.
[21] Rao recognized that the virus can be detected on inanimate objects, and therefore might in some cases be transmitted by them, but he concluded that “smallpox is still an inhalation disease .
the virus has to enter through the nose by inhalation.”[22] In 2002 Donald K. Milton published a review of existing research upon the transmission of smallpox and upon recommendations for controlling its spread in the event of its use in biological war.
