Copper Sinks and Faucets May Stem Hospital Infections

Well, now, here's the ultimate in coddling to people's phobias.

If I were a cynic, I'd be looking for ties between this "new study" (they only come in two flavors, new and discredited) and the Copper Institute of America.

If hospitals were truly serious about preventing infection, they would provide attendants to open doors, turn water taps on and off, and flush our toilets for us.

It would be a much better article if it provided information as to why copper worked at reducing bacteria.

Worried about bacterial infections in hospitals from door handles, try kissing one's hand after touching the mezzout. Here in Israel research was undertaken in a hospital to determine if the mezzout were akin to a Petrie dish in that they were seldom if ever cleaned. As expected they were carriers of infectious bacteria/pathogens and kissing ones hand/fingers after touching the mezzout in hospitals is, not without risks.

We need copper flush handles.

I am a frequent visitor to large hospitals and have over the years developed a routine to avoid infections from physical contact. After making my last contact in the hospital - I visit the rest room to wash my hands and then using the paper tower, open the door with it and toss it away.

If I must open a pull door - I do it with the little finger of my left hand and the same with touching elevator buttons.

The last time time I got a cold in a hospital was when I shook the hand of the 8 year old daughter of a senior manager as it was the day to bring your kids to work.

I have missed 4 days school/work since kindergarten and am 75 YO.

Still working - avoid the bad bugs.

Buy Copper Futures!

water heaters were once made of copper and would last 25+ years. i wonder if this purified the water as it sat there overnight?
Old style Linoleum was used in hospitals and is a bacteriocide as well, made of mostly wood dough and
turpentine which out gassed and did the killing

I wonder if copper coins like pennies have less germs than nickels, dimes, and quarters?

Bacterial count lower but will that translate into fewer infections? What needs to be done is build up immunity of hospitalized patients. How much longer will hospitals allow immune compromised patients to be admitted without vitamin C, D and zinc food fortification? The patient's skin is loaded with bacteria. It is a break in the natural defenses against germs that results in these deadly infections and overuse of antibiotics.

Another way is convincing hospitals that they should be kept clean and that doctors should wash their hands! When hospitals insist on hiring minimum wage workers with no training in why a hospital must be kept clean and then leave those workers with no supervision, to quote an administrator,
" infections simply are the risk of being in a hospital"!

Now some infections may happen not matter what but many of the infections now occurring are happening because hospitals no longer see the "benefit" to their bottom line of enforcing sanitation....this is so whether it comes to floors or the cleaning of surgical theaters or medical devices. The NYT did a very chilling exposing on just the issue a few years ago.

Does it follow from this article that the copper water pipes found in many homes are better than the plastic pipes often used which are less expensive and easier to install, especially in areas with high bacterial levels in the water?

This isn't news. I've known about this for years. The ancient Egyptians, Aztecs, and Mongolians knew about it. (see http://ebisupublications.com/copper-germs-ancient-egypt/ ) The problem these days is that using copper for faucet handles, door handles, light switches, etc. is a lot more expensive than using plastic. Medicare and other insurers will reimburse hospitals for treating a patient who contracts an infection, but won't reimburse for replacing the germ-laden equipment.

They would still need to leave some rooms unchanged for people with copper allergies would they not?

This makes me think of copper IUDs. They are used for contraception, but is the mechanism of copper ions similar? How do copper ions affect bacteria and sperm, but not affect the cells in my uterus?

For those of us who suffer from bronchiectasis and/or are colonized with a rare type of non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), copper pipes in homes and hospitals might do a lot to help prevent our condition. Vulnerable individuals with bronchiectasis (bronchial tubes that can't expel mucus and become ripe for infection with rare bacteria) may also be open to NTM, horrible rare mycobacteria that are found in our water supply, including in apartment buildings and in hospitals. I, myself, live with Lady Windermere Syndrome, a rare condition which the Times covered as such, where my particular frame and other physical characteristics, make me susceptible to these water-borne pathogens. There's a significant group of women (and men) in New York who live with this illness.

The title of the article in AJIC refers to alloys containing copper. It's important for readers to know this.

Basically, copper ions (and I think Silver also) are toxic to bacteria.There are systems out there that use silver anodes in filter systems to treat pool water so use of chlorine is minimal

So how soon till we get copper subway poles??

this is very helpfull

Copper is becoming a accepted form of metal for combating hospital pathogens. With patients leaving the hospitals and returning within days from contracting stapf infections, copper studies show that it has promising results in not allowing the harboring in general of these type of microbes. Conventional metals in hospitals use mostly stainless components and this is were the problem lies in these studies. Copper,in its purest form is microbial resistant and the copper industry is in the process of establishing FDA type specifications that designate these metals for hospital use. Bronze is copper mostly but contains other alloys such as zinc as alloying element and can degrade the effectiveness of the copper in a hospital setting

I believe that copper and copper/steel sinks stop C-Diff spores dead in its tracks. There's a ton of research regarding different types of sinks and their ability to either stop or reduce bacteria growth.

Either the title is misleading or the article incomplete. The copper in the article refers to "faucet handles, toilet flush levers, door handles, light switches and other commonly touched equipment," not sinks and faucets themselves. These are much smaller than a sink and therefore likely much less expensive to replace.

OK, so what is it about copper that has this effect? I don't need a dissertation--just a clue...

Just to be clear, this article is not referring to bathroom fixtures made from pure copper but instead, copper-containing alloys like brass and bronze. Pure copper would likely be too reactive and would stain anything around it.