Copper fittings 'all but eliminate superbugs'
Hospitals could be fitted with copper fixtures after research found it significantly reduced the presence of superbugs in wards.
By Chris Irvine
Last Updated: 7:56AM GMT 29 Oct 2008
The study, funded by the copper industry, found copper fittings rapidly killed bugs such as MRSA and C difficile - bugs which claim thousands of lives a year.
Trials at Selly Oak hospital, in Birmingham, found copper taps and toilet seats helped significantly reduce the presence of the bug.
Copper is a common constituent in medicines including antiseptic and antifungal creams.
Although it is widely believed copper provides relief to many, including those with arthritis who wear copper bangles, there is no scientific evidence that they work.
It is thought the presence of copper in the hospital wards prevents the germs from breathing and stops them from feeding.
The ten-week trial involved a set of taps, a toilet seat and a push plate on an entrance door on a medical ward being replaced by copper versions.
They were swabbed twice a day for bugs, comparing the results with traditional versions elsewhere in the ward.
It found the copper items had up to 95 per cent fewer bugs on their surface whenever tested.
Professor Tom Elliott, lead researcher and a consultant microbiologist at the hospital, said: "The findings of 90 to 95 per cent killing of those organisms, even after a busy day on a medical ward with items being touched by numerous people, is remarkable.
"I have been a consultant microbiologist for several decades. This is the first time I have seen anything like copper in terms of the effect it will have in the environment.
"It may well offer us another mechanism for trying to defeat the spread of infection.'
Should further trials prove as successful, the researchers hope to install copper fittings in hospitals throughout the country. |
