Antimicrobial copper surfaces in hospitals

Infection control is concerned with eliminating as many pathogenic microorganisms as possible and limiting their transfer. This covers a range of measures from handwashing, disinfection, selection of antimicrobial drugs, the treatment of surfaces and so on.1 With surfaces, many types of microorganisms can persist for extended periods of time (some organisms can survive for longer than 30 days on standard surfaces);2 consequently touchsurfaces represent risk spots for pathogen transmission. In the hospital setting, some types of key equipment can be manufactured with antimicrobial touch components with the aim of making the surfaces self-disinfecting. For this a recent trend in the hospital setting has been to revisit the inherent antimicrobial properties of certain metals. A prominent example is the use, or incorporation of, copper.3

Contamination transfer

There are different means by which the pathogens responsible hospital acquired infections (HAIs) can be transferred.4 One of the most common means is contact transmission (such as, by touch or from surfaces), either indirectly by healthcare professional to the patient, or from direct contact by the patient.5 Other means include droplet transmission (when droplets are generated from the source person mainly during coughing, sneezing, and talking); airborne transmission (which occurs by dissemination of airborne droplets containing microorganisms that remain suspended in the air for long periods of time); dust particles containing infectious agents, which can be dispersed by air currents (e.g. during bed-making) and may become inhaled; and substances or materials, where contaminated items such as food, water, medications, devices come into contact with the patient.