Copper handles, electrical switches eliminate harmful bacteria

We had earlier given information that Indian scientists had proved that silver and copper nano-particles have antibiotic properties. Now comes this news
Copper handles, light switches Eliminate Resistant Hospital Germs In A Worldwide Field Test
Medical News today: 23 Aug 2008
In earlier times, copper was considered to be very antimicrobial. In India we have been using copper vessles all the time, but now have opted for stainless steel as a fashion. But now the antimicrobial property of copper may play an important role in the struggle against dangerous hospital germs. In a worldwide noted field test, a whole hospital ward at a Clinic in Hamburg, Germany, was equipped with door handles, door plates and light switches made of copper. Because the germs are not only transmitted from one hand to another but, in many cases, also by touching door handles and switches. According to the clinic and the involved scientists at the University Halle-Wittenberg, the first study results have shown "significantly less chances of survival" of microbes on copper surfaces. "The struggle against high-resistant agents cannot be won with the previous means, such as the use of new antibiotics and intensive disinfection measures. We must break new grounds in order to reduce the potential danger for our patients," Professor Prof. Dr. med. Jorg Braun, chief physician of the I. Medical Department at the Asklepios Clinic Wandsbek said that "Scientific tests performed by several independent working groups have shown beyond doubt that copper surfaces can efficiently kill bacteria and other germs," Prof. Dr. Dietrich H. Nies, Director of the Institute for Biology at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany, also confirms.Comparable studies under clinical conditions are planned or are being performed at the same time in Great Britain, South Africa, the US and Japan. The tests at the Asklepios Clinic in Hamburg, Germany, were initiated by laboratory tests in which 99.9 percent of the bacteria, including the high hazard MRSA agents, were eliminated within a period of a few minutes up to two hours on copper surfaces. In contrast, the same microbes were able to survive up to three days on stainless steel surfaces. This is why the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has confirmed the antimicrobial effect of copper only recently, in March this year.