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Is copper an answer to hospital infections?

Infection Control Monitor, August 8, 2008

Ancient warriors knew that if they sharpened their bronze or copper sword and put the shavings into a wound, it would not get infected.     

Along with his colleagues, Michael Schmidt, Ph.D., a microbiologist at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston, is now testing the ancient idea of using copper to reduce the transmission of infections, according to TheDenverChannel.com.

Copper is microbiocidal and kills bacteria on contact. MUSC researchers are now seeing if placing copper in the proximity of patients will short circuit the transfer of microorganisms from the environment to the patient, as Schmidt told the television station. Researchers are installing copper in vital places in the hospital to reduce the transmission of disease, such as bed tray tables, visitor chairs, computer keyboards and mice, bed rails, and nurse call buttons—all areas that can be contaminated with germs.
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Schmidt hopes, “by putting metallic copper onto these surfaces, we are going to reduce the concentration of indigenous microbes in the room to a level that will drop the incidence of hospital-acquired infections.” The current study, which will test how installing copper surfaces translates to hospital infection rates, will include MUSC, the VA Medical Center in Charleston, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, the station reported.         

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