Can discarded chewing gum cuds transmit viruses?
It is extremely unlikely. In general, viruses are readily inactivated by heating and drying, and do not survive in an external environment without a host organism. Discarded gum cud from an infected individual would be expected to dry quickly in the environment, has a low organic content that would not sustain the viability of the organism and is not likely to be picked up and chewed by anyone else. For all practical purposes, gum cud would be an extremely unlikely means of transmitting a virus to a human.
