Copper effective in keeping superbugs at bay

LONDON - Ayurvedic tradition has it that drinking water on an empty stomach that has been stored overnight in a copper urn keeps illness at bay.

The belief has some substance after all, as a study in a busy Birmingham teaching hospital has proved in another context.

Researchers swapped a conventional toilet seat, tap-handles and a ward door push-plate for similar items made from 70 percent copper.

They compared the number of microbes on the copper surfaces against the number of bacteria on the same items from another ward and found that the copper surfaces had 90-100 percent fewer live bacteria than the non-copper surfaces.

Said Tom Elliott, professor at the University Hospital Birmingham (UHB), the study leader: “The results of the first clinical trials in both Birmingham and South Africa suggest that the use of copper may assist in maintaining hospital surfaces free of bacteria and could augment cleaning programmes.

“The findings related to the use of a copper biocide adds further evidence to the potential of this metal for fighting infection,” he added.

Similar findings were reported from a primary healthcare facility in the Western Cape, South Africa.

Researchers there found 71 percent fewer microbes on frequently touched surfaces overlaid with copper sheets (a desk, trolley, cupboard and window sill) compared with corresponding items made with conventional materials.

Besides copper surfaces, cleaners have been using a copper-based disinfectant along with microfibre mops in Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland, said an UHB release.

Microfibre products are widely used in Britain hospitals since they attract bacteria from surfaces and reach into places that other cleaning materials do not; however, they are difficult to disinfect.

The copper-based disinfectant (CuWBO) cleaned the microfibre as well as the environment. Then, it appeared to continue killing germs for the rest of the day.