Lining hospital beds with copper could be a simple way to reduce healthcare-associated infections.
A new study found copper hospital beds in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) had 95% fewer bacteria than conventional hospital beds. And maintained the low-risk levels throughout patients’ stay in hospital.
The research was recently published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
The in situ study at the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, compared the relative contamination of intensive care unit (ICU) beds outfitted with copper rails and footboards with existing beds with plastic surfaces.
Nearly 90% of bacterial samples taken from the plastic rails had concentrations of bacteria that exceed levels considered safe.
Hospital-acquired infections sicken approximately 2 million Americans a year and kill nearly 100,000. They are the 8th leading cause of death in the U.S.
And hospital beds are among the most contaminated surfaces in patient care settings and a leading cause of hospital based infections.
Until recently however, patient beds incorporating antimicrobial copper surfaces-long known to repel and kill bacteria-have not been commercially available.
“Based on the positive results of previous trials, we worked to get a fully encapsulated copper bed produced,” said coauthor Michael G. Schmidt, PhD, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical University of South Carolina.
Study: https://aem.asm.org/content/early/2019/10/14/AEM.01886-19