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SURVIVAL OUTSIDE HOST: Filoviruses have been reported capable to survive for weeks in blood and can also survive on contaminated surfaces, particularly at low temperatures (4°C) Footnote 52 Footnote 61. One study could not recover any Ebolavirus from experimentally contaminated surfaces (plastic, metal or glass) at room temperature Footnote 61. In another study, Ebolavirus dried onto glass, polymeric silicone rubber, or painted aluminum alloy is able to survive in the dark for several hours under ambient conditions (between 20 and 250C and 30–40% relative humidity) (amount of virus reduced to 37% after 15.4 hours), but is less stable than some other viral hemorrhagic fevers (Lassa) Footnote 53. When dried in tissue culture media onto glass and stored at 4 °C, Zaire ebolavirus survived for over 50 days Footnote 61. This information is based on experimental findings only and not based on observations in nature. This information is intended to be used to support local risk assessments in a laboratory setting.

Public Health Agency of Canada EBOLAVIRUS PATHOGEN SAFETY DATA SHEET - INFECTIOUS SUBSTANCES

While, admittedly, viability is a multivariate situation, I find it hard to believe that the virus cannot survive as long on/in a corpse as it can in fomites.

SURVIVAL OUTSIDE HOST: Filoviruses have been reported capable to survive for weeks in blood and can also survive on contaminated surfaces, particularly at low temperatures (4°C)

Keeping the virus at 4°C is keeping it at a temperature favorable to survival. Many microorganisms can survive for months or years at 4°C. Is that even applicable to the real question here, which is, how likely is it that an Ebola patient will transmit the disease to another person under natural conditions, without close contact (e.g. by fomites)?

In a way, all of these "what if" scenarios about virus survival are red herrings. We know very definite ways in which the virus spreads, and we have to take steps to eliminate those ways. For instance, if you are a caregiver, you wear protective gear. For all of those "what ifs", I'd say that they are not worth worrying about. Instead of working yourself up over whether that debris in the damp corner could harbor live virus a week from now, you just spritz bleach into the corner. And you spritz bleach everywhere you think the patient might have touched. Problem solved, and fomites aren't a concern.

I will remark about the PHA of Canada Ebola MSDS: when I first saw it, and checked the references against what it said, the references did not exactly support everything stated in the MSDS. I would use the MSDS as a source to find other references, but I would not use it as a primary source of information.

While, admittedly, viability is a multivariate situation, I find it hard to believe that the virus cannot survive as long on/in a corpse as it can in fomites.

According to my microbiologist friend, when someone dies, their internal pH changes quickly. The altered pH is not conducive to virus survival. She doesn't think a virus could survive more than a couple of hours.