system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
What happens to a virus if the host that it lives in dies? Does it decompose with the body?
gpt
Most viruses don't last long after the death of the host - minutes to hours scale. They require living cells to sustain themselves and with the death of the host and decomposition it's similar to their survival time on any other inanimate object.

A few animal viruses can persist for a very long time in rendered products like sausage - like African swine fever and classical swine fever - it's just one reason you're asked if you have any animal products when crossing international borders.