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Hi everyone. Just my way of thinking.....As we go through our weeks of treatment Iam aware the virus can live outside of it's human for 4 to 5 days, and staying alive on our toothbrushes, razors, and anything else you can think of which might present a risk of reinfecting ourselves. As someone passes the threshold into their new world of undetected, and was then to pick up their old faithful tooth brush or razor... you would be reinfecting yourself. It might be short lived as you continue the medication., however it might be better not to reintroduce the little bugger into your personal hygiene routine. And certainly not after you have finished with the medication , please do a spring clean on the bathroom cabinet and get rid of the old you. Iam changing my toothbrushes every second day, and not reusing razors or anything which could send a live one back into the system.
Best wishes from The Poodle !

I will be starting treatment shortly and I have already purchased bulk of those 5 for $2.00 toothbrushes, pump bottle toothpaste, and will use Nair cream instead of razors.

interesting subject. Can we use the same toothbrusher and razor for more than one day? I have thought to use change razor every day. We have to ask Dr James.

How long does virus lives outside? I know it lives 24 hours.

This is an extremely good point. My old understanding was that it could like for 4 days outside the body, however it has been shown the virus can remain viable for 6 weeks

jid.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/201...fdis.jit648.abstract

There is further discussion about this here:

blog.aids.gov/2014/01/scientists-discove...r-up-to-6-weeks.html

I have personally seen the parents of an HCV son acquire acute Hep C due to razor sharing so there is no doubt the virus can survive and infect from this source.

Viral loads fall rapidly on treatment so after a couple of weeks there will be very little (or no) virus in your blood to coat either a razor of a toothbrush, so if you are contemplating frequent replacement of razors and toothbrushes there would be more benefit in doing this daily at the beginning of treatment than at the end.

Here is what the CDC has to say about disinfection:

www.cdc.gov/hicpac/Disinfection_Steriliz...aminatedDevices.html

So soaking razors and toothbrushes in a 1:10 dilution (1 part bleach, 9 parts water) would be an acceptable alternative to replacement.