Recent and ongoing research by Professor Bill Keevil and Dr Jonathan Noyce at the University of Southampton has shown that copper inactivates disease-causing germs on its surface in as little as 90 minutes. Studies have clearly demonstrated such an antimicrobial effect on a range of microbes including MRSA, E. coli 0157, Listeria monocytogenes and other hospital-acquired infections.
Copper touch surfaces offer antimicrobial protection
This natural hygienic property makes copper and its alloys, such as the brasses, ideal for hospital touch surface products including door handles, push plates, light switch plates, bed rails, intravenous poles, drug trolleys, counter and table tops and hand rails. Copper has been used throughout history and around the world as a hygienic material and there is a long list of touch surfaces that could benefit from copper’s antimicrobial properties today.
A few low cost and easy to implement improvements in facilities design can reduce the viability of microbes on the most frequently touched surfaces. To keep costs down, it may be possible to retrofit door handles in those areas of hospitals where the transmission of infectious diseases is a special concern, e.g. intensive care units or quarantined areas.