Could a copper door handle help to beat MRSA?
According to the National Audit office, 300,000 patients pick up infections in hospital each year in the UK. At least 5,000 are likely to die as a result. The cost to the NHS is estimated at 1 billion a year. Hospital superbugs may finally have met their match in copper door handles. Copper, used in medicines for 4,000 years, has been shown to be highly effective in killing off bacteria such as MRSA. So successful have laboratory results been, that all stainless steel fittings in one hospital ward are to be replaced with copper ones to see if they cut infection rates. The trial follows work by scientists at Southampton University which expanded on existing knowledge of the anti-bacterial qualities of copper. They found that the metal “suffocates” germs, stopping them from breeding, and also destroying their DNA. Even tiny pieces of copper killed vast amount of bugs. The Pharaohs used copper to sterilize wounds and drinking water, while the Aztecs used it to treat skin conditions. In An
