HIV Outside the Body: Ability to Infect & Breakdown

[haynewp]

I was searching for explanations regarding the ability of HIV to retain its ability to infect once outside the body. I know that the CDC states that natural concentrations of the virus will virtually be completely destroyed once the infectious fluid containing the virus has dried. However, I think I recall reading elsewhere that once outside the host, exposure to oxygen and the sudden temperature change will "quickly" cause the virus to lose its ability to infect, although the virus may still be active in the fluid.

I was wondering if anyone could provide further explanation on the ability of HIV to infect once exposed to the environment, (if it relates to the cell walls beginning to breakdown) and if there is even any truth to what I have stated regarding infectiousness and initial breakdown of the virus.

 

[jim mcnamara]

Old paper showing dried virus sample on a glass slide remains infectious for more than one day:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC263082/
This one is much more recent. Please consider reading it. It mentions 42 days as the period over which the virus is infectious in a protective enclosure. But there are a lot of unexplained non-transmission events as well.
https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pdf/workplace/cdc-hiv101.pdf