Coppering Out Hospital Infection

"Germs survived two hours on copper three days on stainless steel"
.
I wonder if starch based paint would do the same thing.
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Copper Eliminates Resistant Hospital Germs In A Worldwide Field Test
Article Date: 23 Aug 2008 - 0:00 PDT

Sometimes something well-tried can also be innovative: already in
Ancient Greece, copper was considered to be very antimicrobial. This
ability is now playing an important role in the struggle against
dangerous hospital germs. In a worldwide noted field test, a whole
hospital ward at the Asklepios Clinic in Wandsbek in Hamburg, Germany,
was equipped with door handles, door plates and light switches made of
copper. Because the germs are not only transmitted from one hand to
another but, in many cases, also by touching door handles and
switches. At the moment, scientists at the University Halle-
Wittenberg, Germany, are evaluating the samples of the first study
phase. As a result, the Asklepios Clinic Wandsbek becomes the pioneer
in this clinical research in Europe.

The main opponents are dangerous, antibiotic-resistant bacteria
(MRSA), with which more and more patients worldwide fall ill in
clinics and nursing homes. Classical sanitary measures are often
insufficient to prevent a further spreading. According to the clinic
and the involved scientists at the University Halle-Wittenberg, the
first study results have shown "significantly less chances of
survival" of microbes on copper surfaces, which is why the field test
will be continued in the second half of the year. A complete
evaluation is expected by early 2009.

Worldwide race against time

"The struggle against high-resistant agents cannot be won with the
previous means, such as the use of new antibiotics and intensive
disinfection measures. We must break new grounds in order to reduce
the potential danger for our patients," Professor Prof. Dr. med. Jorg
Braun, chief physician of the I. Medical Department at the Asklepios
Clinic Wandsbek explains the motives for the field test. "Scientific
tests performed by several independent working groups have shown
beyond doubt that copper surfaces can efficiently kill bacteria and
other germs," Prof. Dr. Dietrich H. Nies, Director of the Institute
for Biology at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany,
also confirms.

With its field test (two times eight weeks with weekly periodic
sampling), the Asklepios Clinic Wandsbeck is involved in a worldwide
study program. Comparable studies under clinical conditions are
planned or are being performed at the same time in Great Britain,
South Africa, the US and Japan. In Wandsbek, samples from door
handles, door plates and light switches were collected during the last
weeks: both from common surfaces, e.g. made of stainless steel, and
from surfaces with cooper alloys. Experience has shown that door
handles and light switches are the most frequent surfaces of
transmission.

50,000 casualties in Europe alone every year

According to serious estimates, more than half a million of such
nosocomial infections - i.e. caught in the clinic - occur every year,
in German hospitals alone. According to the European Centre for
Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), there are three million cases
all over Europe, of which 50,000 are fatal. Antibiotic-resistant germs
like MRSA (MRSA stands for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus
aureus) present a particularly high danger in this context.

In addition to the partly life-threatening danger for the patients,
there is also an enormous economic damage which might amount to
billions in Germany alone. For the US, there is an estimate by the
Center for Disease Control (CDC), according to which nosocomial
infections incur costs of more than 4.5 billion US dollars. In Great
Britain, the National Health Service (NHS) estimates the additional
costs at one billion pounds sterling every year. According to
estimates, patients who contract MRSA in the clinic stay in sickbed up
to four days longer on average and incur additional costs to the
amount of 4,000 Euro, in individual cases even up to 20,000 Euro. The
most frequent complications with weakened patients after a MRSA
infection include wound infections, pneumonias, blood poisonings, and
urinary tract infections.

Research is going full steam ahead worldwide

The tests at the Asklepios Clinic in Hamburg, Germany, were initiated
by laboratory tests in which 99.9 percent of the bacteria, including
the high hazard MRSA agents, were eliminated within a period of a few
minutes up to two hours on copper surfaces. In contrast, the same
microbes were able to survive up to three days on stainless steel
surfaces. This is why the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has
confirmed the antimicrobial effect of copper only recently, in March
this year. Current research is closing a scientific gap which has
existed for a very long time: "Humanity has had positive experience
with the hygienic effect of copper for thousands of years", says Dr.-
Ing. Anton Klassert, Business Manager of the German Copper Institute
(DKI). "Against the backdrop of the current problems in the health
care system, the DKI has now taken the first steps in order to apply
these properties of copper in a modern hospital", according to the
Director of the European Copper Competence Centre "Antimicrobial
Properties".

Visual material and the PowerPoint presentations of the speakers on
the topic "Copper & Germs" are available on request.

Asklepios Kliniken
http://www.asklepios.com
-------------------------

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