A Copper Bedrail Could Cut Back On Infections For Hospital Patients 
 
 Enlarge this image toggle caption Courtesy of CopperBioHealth Courtesy of CopperBioHealth 
 
 Checking into a hospital can boost your chances of infection. That's a disturbing paradox of modern medical care. 
 
 And it doesn't matter where in the world you're hospitalized. From the finest to the most rudimentary medical facilities, patients are vulnerable to new infections that have nothing to do with their original medical problem. These are referred to as healthcare-acquired infections, healthcare-associated infections or hospital-acquired infections. Many of them, like pneumonia or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), can be deadly. 
 
 The World Health Organization estimates that "each year, hundreds of millions of patients around the world are affected" by healthcare-acquired infections. In the United States, the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion in the Health and Human Services Department estimates that 1 in 25 inpatients has a hospital-related infection. In developing countries, estimates run higher. 
 
 Hospital bed safety railings are a major source of these infections. That's what Constanza Correa, 33, and her colleagues have found in their research in Santiago, Chile. They've taken on the problem by replacing them, since 2013, with railings made of copper, an anti-microbial element. 
 
 Copper definitely wipes out microbes. "Bacteria, yeasts and viruses are rapidly killed on metallic copper surfaces, and the term "contact killing" has been coined for this process," wrote the authors of an article on copper in Applied and Environmental Microbiology. That knowledge has been around a very long time. The journal article cites an Egyptian medical text, written around 2600-2000 B.C., that cites the use of copper to sterilize chest wounds and drinking water. 
 
 Correa's startup, Copper BioHealth, has not yet assessed the railings' impact in Chilean hospitals. But a study of the effects of copper-alloy surfaces in U.S. hospitals' intensive care units, published last year in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, showed promising results: Their presence reduced the number of healthcare-acquired infections from 8.1 percent in regular rooms to 3.4 percent in the copper rooms. 
 
 Correa spoke with Goats and Soda a few hours before she presented her work at a Latin America innovation conference earlier this month, hosted by the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, D.C. 
 
 You have a simple strategy to combat hospital-associated infections. Tell me what it involves. 
 
 Healthcare-acquired infections are a huge problem. People come to the hospital with a sickness, and they get another one in the hospital. Then they have to stay longer and spend more money on treatment. Sometimes it can cause death. Eighty percent of these infections come from touching hospital surfaces. In the hospital room, the most contaminated surface is the bed rail. It's the most manipulated by medical staff and patients. It's in direct contact with the patient. That's the most critical surface in the room. 
 
 Our objective is to decrease the chance of infection due to surface contact. So we replace current bed rails with copper bed rails. It kills viruses, fungi and bacteria continuously. 
 
 What's the magnitude of the problem? 
 
 In industrialized countries, 5 percent of patients develop these infections and the number is three times more in developing countries. These are infections like pneumonia and urinary tract infections. In the United States, the annual direct cost to treat these infections is $40 billion a year. Plus the patient loses time at work. And we don't consider what happens after a patient leaves the hospital. They may get sick [from these infections] later, too. 
 
 How many hospitals are using your copper railings now? 
 
 They are used at four hospitals in Chile, in 150 beds. We only change the rails, not the whole bed. We realized price is an issue, so we focus on the most critical surface and we use a leasing model so it is easier for [hospitals] to take the decision. It's not a big investment decision. The cost is $60 to $100 per bed per month. After 36 months, they have paid for it. 
 
 Are there other places where copper could help prevent infection? 
 
 There are a lot of options for how to incorporate copper. Bed rails are only the first step. You can have copper IV poles, feeding tables, night tables, even mattress covers. 
 
 Mattress covers? 
 
 Yes, there is a copper additive that can be combined with a polymer and it's much better than the current covers. It is all to create a healthier environment. You can even use it for subway straps. 
 
 Have you had any personal experience with healthcare-acquired infections? 
 
 Yes, my grandmother was hospitalized after a hip fracture. She got an infection — she caught pneumonia. We almost lost her. We thought she was going to die, and not because of the broken hip. 
 
 Did she recover? 
 
 Yes, fortunately. But hospitals should be safer. Copper kills everything. Why wouldn't you use it? It has so much sense for people. 

 Copper door handles and taps kill 95% of superbugs in hospitals 
 
 
 
 Hope: Copper taps, toilet seats and push plates on doors all but eliminated common bugs, the study found 
 
 Making door handles, taps and light switches from copper could help the country beat superbugs, scientists say. 
 
 A study found that copper fittings rapidly killed bugs on hospital wards, succeeding where other infection control measures failed. 
 
 In the trial at Selly Oak hospital, in Birmingham, copper taps, toilet seats and push plates on doors all but eliminated common bugs. 
 
 It is thought the metal 'suffocates' germs, preventing them breathing. It may also stop them from feeding and destroy their DNA. 
 
 Lab tests show that the metal kills off the deadly MRSA and C difficile superbugs. 
 
 It also kills other dangerous germs, including the flu virus and the E coli food poisoning bug. 
 
 Although the number of cases of MRSA and C difficile is falling, the two bugs still claim thousands of lives a year. 
 
 During the ten-week trial on a medical ward, a set of taps, a lavatory seat and a push plate on an entrance door were replaced with copper versions. They were swabbed twice a day for bugs and the results compared with a traditional tap, lavatory seat and push plate elsewhere in the ward. 
 
 The copper items had up to 95 per cent fewer bugs on their surface whenever they were tested, a U.S. conference on antibiotics heard yesterday. 
 
 Professor Tom Elliott, the 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.' 
 
 Researcher Professor Peter Lambert, of Aston University, Birmingham, said: 'The numbers decreased always on copper but not on the steel surfaces.' 
 
 If further hospital-based trials prove as successful, the researchers would like copper fixtures and fittings installed in hospitals around the country. 
 
 Doorknobs, taps, light switches, toilet seats and handles and bathroom 'grab rails' could all be ripped out and replaced with copper versions. 
 
 Making door handles, taps and light switches from copper could help the country beat superbugs, scientists say 
 
 Although it is usually thought to be an expensive metal, copper is actually a similar price to stainless steel, the researchers said. Nursing homes and even our houses could also benefit from the metal's ability to wipe out dangerous bugs. 
 
 The healing power of copper has been recognised for thousands of years. 
 
 More than 4,000 years ago, the Egyptians used it to sterilise wounds and drinking water and the Aztecs treated skin conditions with the metal. 
 
 The ancient Greeks also knew of its benefits. Hippocrates, sometimes called 'the father of medicine', noted that it could be used to treat leg ulcers. 
 
 Today, copper is a common constituent in medicines including antiseptic and antifungal creams. It is also believed to have anti-inflammatory properties. Many of those with arthritis wear copper bangles. 
 
 Although they provide relief to many, there is no scientific evidence that they work. 
 
 Copper is present in our diet in trace amounts and plays an important role in the formation of red blood cells and in keeping our blood vessels, nerves and bones healthy. 
 
 The research was funded by the copper industry. 

 In hospitals, door handles offer plenty of surface area for bacteria to multiply. They're handled thousands of times per day and regular cleaning doesn't help. Certain microbes reproduce rapidly on them. 
 
 It's a problem that has attracted the attention of the Asklepios Clinic Harbur in Hamburg, which began a project to replace its door handles with copper alternatives. 
 
 The results of the test were astonishing. 
 
 When compared to handles of stainless steel or artificial materials, copper reduced microbes by 50 percent. 
 
 "We were able to determine that, on copper handles, fewer pathogens were traceable," says Susanne Huggett, who heads the clinic's large-scale MEDILYS laboratory. 
 
 In Germany alone, between 400,000 and 600,000 hospital patients each year are infected with dangerous bacteria. 
 
 This can affect wounds or even lead to pneumonia. Roughly 15,000 patients die each year due to infections picked up in hospitals. 
 
 Staphylococcus aureus, the resistant variety of which is MRSA, magnified at 4,780 times 
 
 With flying colors 
 
 Why does copper work so well? 
 
 The metal is antibacterial - a fact demonstrated in 2008 and 2009 by the same Hamburg clinic in conjunction with Germany's Copper Alliance, a professional association whose aim is to find new ways to use copper. 
 
 Handles made of 70 percent of the metal were shown to reduce levels of bacteria, fungi and viruses - relevant not only in clinical areas of a hospital but also in the more sensitive, intensive care units. 
 
 One current high-risk pathogen, for example, is the antibiotic-resistant MRSA, within the Staph family of infections. 
 
 In a recently opened wing, the clinic has installed about 600 copper handles, making it the largest such project in the Europe or US. 
 
 So beautiful... and then it turns green 
 
 But it looks dirty! 
 
 Copper furnishings do have a superficial disadvantage, however. They often look dirty, even when freshly cleaned. 
 
 Lab director Susanne Huggett 
 
 In addition, says Hugget, "the handles were discolored, since they were regularly - at least once per day - cleaned with surface disinfectant." 
 
 The laboratory director adds that while the greenish hue of oxidized copper might appear beautiful on roofs or rainspouts, green door handles leave the impression of an unsanitary clinic. 
 
 That observation - even if based on aesthetic rather than hygienic concerns - was passed along to the manufacturer. 
 
 Now the clinic is trying out its newest handles, which are made of a different copper alloy. 
 
 "We'll continue the tests we began this summer within the clinic's daily routine." 
 
 And then some 
 
 A second disadvantage is that copper handles are 50 percent more expensive than high-quality stainless steel equivalents. 
 
 And they're not intended to replace good practice. 
 
 Huggett says "copper is an additional building block" that should remind personnel to further good hygiene habits - and not replace them. 
 
 That said, door handles might just be the start for the clinic. The idea could be transferred to other things such as wheelchair parts, levers used to move beds up and down, electric door buttons, and even cash machines are all frequent contact points that can spread life-threatening microbes. 
 
 So soon we may be living in a copper world.
– One in 25 patients in US hospitals gets a new infection at the facility, according to the federal health department, and the numbers are three times that in non-industrialized countries, a Chilean researcher tells NPR. Healthcare-acquired infections, as they're known, can lead to longer hospital stays, increased treatment costs, and in some cases, even death, Constanza Correa adds. The CDC director says 200 people per day die of such illnesses. The good news is that Correa and others are testing a simple method that could cut down on such illnesses: Copper bed rails. Copper has been known for millennia as a material that can quickly get rid of bacteria, viruses, and more; in Correa's words, it "kills everything." A US study found last year that the rails cut infections from 8.1% to 3.4% of hospital rooms. Correa's team has been replacing bed rails in Chile with copper since last year; so far, they've made the conversion on 150 beds in four hospitals. And "bed rails are only the first step. You can have copper IV poles, feeding tables, night tables, even mattress covers." Indeed, an earlier study highlighted at the Blaze investigated copper door handles, toilet seats, and faucets; researchers found that they had 95% fewer "bugs" on them than standard equipment, the Daily Mail reported in 2008. More recently, researchers in Germany have been exploring the possibilities of copper; they found a 50% reduction in microbes, Deutsche Welle reports. (Another metal may work wonders against superbugs.)