How long would it take for saliva to get harmful bacteria in it?

curious minds lead to curious places

Saliva generally contains a number of antimicrobial and immunofunctional agents, in addition to secretory ImmunoglobulinA, lactoferrin, lysozyme and peroxidases.

However, not all bacteria are susceptible to these powerful chemicals. In fact, some pathogens are genetically programmed to resist these natural antibiotics produced by our bodies. If the lid is infected with bacteria or the cup in which the spit is put in is infected, bacteria will start their grow immediately; however, since there isn't much of a food source in saliva (i.e. sugars), the bacteria is awfully limited in terms of its grow.

So it basically depends on the container and how clean it is?

Let's say there's two cups. Both have been cleaned and washed with anti-bacterial soap.

One has only saliva in it. The other has saliva AND sugar in it.

Would the no-sugar container last 24 hours? A week? What about the other one?

I'm guessing that neither would develop any harmful amount of bacteria before... 24 hours?

Okay, if we were to assume both were virtually free from bacteria, there would be no growth at all because there is no bacteria in there to begin with. Bacteria doesn't just fly or walk into the container, it has to be there in the first place in order to infect the area it is in. If, however, you were to intentionally expose both samples with an infectious species of bacteria, the one with sugar would become totally infested with the pathogen until the bacteria ran out of the sugar source is was initially supplied with - this ultimately depends on how much sugar you put in, but with bacteria, a little bit of sugar goes a long way. Really hard to give you a quantitative value.

Oh, I was thinking bacteria is always just floating about in the air, just waiting for the chance to happen upon something juicy so it can spread infectious diseases and such. xP

I guess I am thinking more of molds and funguses.

Yeh Molds release spores that are often airborne (just floating around) - not with bacteria.

By the way, if you have anymore curiosity based questions, don't forget to come back and ask them!

Okay. Thanks! 

And thanks for the answers!