Copper Surfaces Reduce the Rate of Healthcare-Acquired Infections in the Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

OBJECTIVE. Healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs) cause substantial patient morbidity and mortality. Items in the environment harbor microorganisms that may contribute to HAIs. Reduction in surface bioburden may be an effective strategy to reduce HAIs. The inherent biocidal properties of copper surfaces offer a theoretical advantage to conventional cleaning, as the effect is continuous rather than episodic. We sought to determine whether placement of copper alloy-surfaced objects in an intensive care unit (ICU) reduced the risk of HAI. DESIGN. Intention-to-treat randomized control trial between July 12, 2010, and June 14, 2011. SETTINg. The ICUs of 3 hospitals. PATIENTS. Patients presenting for admission to the ICU. METHODS. Patients were randomly placed in available rooms with or without copper alloy surfaces, and the rates of incident HAI and/or colonization with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) in each type of room were compared. RESULTS. The rate of HAI and/or MRSA or VRE colonization in ICU rooms with copper alloy surfaces was significantly lower than that in standard ICU rooms (0.071 vs 0.123; P = .020). For HAI only, the rate was reduced from 0.081 to 0.034 (P = .013). CONCLUSIONs. Patients cared for in ICU rooms with copper alloy surfaces had a significantly lower rate of incident HAI and/or colonization with MRSA or VRE than did patients treated in standard rooms. Additional studies are needed to determine the clinical effect of copper alloy surfaces in additional patient populations and settings.

Lack of Involvement of Fenton Chemistry in Death of Methicillin-Resistant and Methicillin-Sensitive Strains of Staphylococcus aureus and Destruction of Their Genomes on Wet or Dry Copper Alloy Surfaces

“…The real-life bacterial bioburden is considerably less than that tested here, suggesting that kill times may be even faster, and a hospital trial has already shown that incorporation of just 6 copper surfaces in intensive care units significantly reduced MRSA colonization and health care-acquired infection over a 12-month period (22,23). Further trials are now urgently needed to determine if the wealth of data from laboratory studies showing high efficacy of copper alloys to kill or inactivate a large range of microbial pathogens can be extrapolated to real-life environments to reduce the number of infections contracted from touching contaminated surfaces.…”

Antibacterial and Biocompatible Titanium-Copper Oxide Coating May Be a Potential Strategy to Reduce Periprosthetic Infection: An In Vitro Study

“…Initiatives to minimize bacterial colonization at the time of insertion have been studied in the past with slow permeation in the clinical setting [1,39,48]. Several preclinical and clinical studies support the use of copper alloy touch surfaces to reduce the burden of bacteria in healthcare settings [10,11,33], but few studies support the use of copper implants to reduce periprosthetic infections [6,18,27,41]. The ideal antibacterial coating should be biocompatible, thin, dense, and firm with precise decay of the active material.…”

“…The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved over 300 copper alloys as antimicrobial touch surfaces [11] and its public health benefit has been supported by a multicenter study that showed patients treated in intensive care units with copper alloy surfaces had a significantly lower incidence of hospital-acquired infections and/or colonization with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or vancomycin-resistant enterococci than did patients treated in standard rooms [33]. Regarding the use of implants containing copper, practically all clinical experience comes from the use of intrauterine contraceptive devices made of copper [21].…”

Disastrous performance of NanoCote/Aqua Based antimicrobial paint in a hospital setting

“…Appreciation of its efficacy probably goes back for several millennia, and quite a few studies have succeeded in demonstrating it more or less quantitatively [7][8][9][10]. In a frequently-cited paper, Salgado et al went as far as asserting that copper surfaces reduce the rate of HAI [11]; the critique of this study [12], which effectively negates its conclusions, is unfortunately much less cited.…”