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Welcome to the final Interest Group ezine of 2010, ending the year on a positive note as awareness of, and demand for, antimicrobial copper rises.
Feedback from recent events shows a step change in awareness of copper's antimicrobial properties with more companies positioning to offer Cu+ branded products and more hospitals interested in specifying them. The online directories on www.antimicrobialcopper.com are currently being populated with details of these companies and their products and services.
With the latest clinical trial results confirming copper's role in infection prevention and more facilities around the world implementing it, antimicrobial copper looks set for even greater uptake in 2011.
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Finnish Installation
| | New medical centre uses copper
The new medical centre Mehiläinen in Pori is one of the first healthcare facilities in Finland to capitalise on the antimicrobial properties of copper. Opened in early September, the newly renovated facility introduces floor drains and covers that are made from copper. The unit manager of the Mehiläinen medical centre, ear, nose and throat specialist Dr Harri Reunanen, is familiar with the fundamental characteristic of copper and wanted to exploit this intrinsic trait further in the renovation of the new facility. Floor drain manufacturer Vemta joined forces with material supplier Luvata to produce the desired products. "As bacteria evolve and become more resistant to treatment, hospital-acquired infections will be an increasing problem for the health sector. As a result, more and more attention will be paid to the prevention of the spread of these harmful fungal and microbial organisms. The results of the antimicrobial effectiveness of copper are very convincing," says Dr Reunanen. "We chose copper specifically for floor drains, because the moist environment is conducive to growing bacteria." More |
| Copper 'Halo Effect' Demonstrated | | First study to estimate risk reduction
 The results of a pilot study at an outpatient clinic at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System in the United States show that, as well as reducing surface microbial contamination by 90%, antimicrobial copper surfaces extend a 'halo effect' to nearby, non-copper surfaces, reducing their contamination levels by 70%.
Given that the environmental microbial burden is a component of the risk associated with clinical care, using this data alongside patient numbers, the researchers extrapolated a 15-17-fold lower risk of exposure to environmental microbes when using the copperised surfaces compared to standard ones. This marks the first study that has offered an estimation of actual risk reduction through the use of antimicrobial copper touch surfaces.
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Further Selly Oak Trial Results
| | Copper reduces contamination between cleans
Results from the 6 month/14-surface study were presented at the recent 7th International Conference of the Hospital Infection Society in Liverpool.
Copper-containing items, including door push plates, door pull handles, tap handles, toilet flush lever handles, patient over-bed tables, dressing trolleys, socket switches and light pull cord toggles were found to have significantly fewer microorganisms on their surfaces than the controls, and vancomycin-resistant enterococci, meticillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus and coliform bacteria were recovered less frequently from these.
Trial leader, Professor Tom Elliott, Consultant Microbiologist at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, concluded that the use of copper, in combination with optimal infection prevention strategies, may further reduce the risk of patients acquiring infections in hospitals and other healthcare environments.
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