Table 1.

Persistence of clinically relevant bacteria on dry inanimate surfaces.

Type of bacterium	Duration of persistence (range)	Reference(s)
Acinetobacter spp.	3 days to 5 months	[18, 25, 28, 29, 87, 88]
Bordetella pertussis	3 – 5 days	[89, 90]
Campylobacter jejuni	up to 6 days	[91]
Clostridium difficile (spores)	5 months	[92–94]
Chlamydia pneumoniae, C. trachomatis	≤ 30 hours	[14, 95]
Chlamydia psittaci	15 days	[90]
Corynebacterium diphtheriae	7 days – 6 months	[90, 96]
Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis	1–8 days	[21]
Escherichia coli	1.5 hours – 16 months	[12, 16, 17, 22, 28, 52, 90, 97–99]
Enterococcus spp. including VRE and VSE	5 days – 4 months	[9, 26, 28, 100, 101]
Haemophilus influenzae	12 days	[90]
Helicobacter pylori	≤ 90 minutes	[23]
Klebsiella spp.	2 hours to > 30 months	[12, 16, 28, 52, 90]
Listeria spp.	1 day – months	[15, 90, 102]
Mycobacterium bovis	> 2 months	[13, 90]
Mycobacterium tuberculosis	1 day – 4 months	[30, 90]
Neisseria gonorrhoeae	1 – 3 days	[24, 27, 90]
Proteus vulgaris	1 – 2 days	[90]
Pseudomonas aeruginosa	6 hours – 16 months; on dry floor: 5 weeks	[12, 16, 28, 52, 99, 103, 104]
Salmonella typhi	6 hours – 4 weeks	[90]
Salmonella typhimurium	10 days – 4.2 years	[15, 90, 105]
Salmonella spp.	1 day	[52]
Serratia marcescens	3 days – 2 months; on dry floor: 5 weeks	[12, 90]
Shigella spp.	2 days – 5 months	[90, 106, 107]
Staphylococcus aureus, including MRSA	7 days – 7 months	[9, 10, 16, 52, 99, 108]
Streptococcus pneumoniae	1 – 20 days	[90]
Streptococcus pyogenes	3 days – 6.5 months	[90]
Vibrio cholerae	1 – 7 days	[90, 109]