Metallic copper surfaces kill microbes on contact, decimating
their populations, according to a paper in the February 2011
issue of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
They do so literally in minutes, by causing massive membrane
damage after about a minute’s exposure, says the study’s
corresponding author, Gregor Grass of the University of
Nebraska, Lincoln. This is the first study to demonstrate this
mechanism of bacteriocide. “When microbes were exposed to copper
surfaces, we observed contact killing to take place at the rate
of tens to hundreds of millions of bacterial cells within
minutes,” says Grass. “This means that usually no live
microorganisms can be recovered from copper surfaces after
exposure.” Thus, such surfaces could provide a critical passive
defense against pathogens in hospitals, where hospital-acquired
infections are becoming increasingly common and costly, killing
50,000-100,000 Americans annually, and costing more than $8
billion, according to one estimate. Still, Grass c