MEDIA RELEASE PR31532
Copper Eliminates Resistant Hospital Germs in a Worldwide Field Test
HAMBURG, Aug 22 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --
- Dangerous Bacteria Infect Three Million People in Europe Every Year
Sometimes something well-tried can also be innovative: already in Ancient
Greece, copper was considered to be very antimicrobial. This ability is now
playing an important role in the struggle against dangerous hospital germs.
In a worldwide noted field test, a whole hospital ward at the Asklepios
Clinic in Wandsbek 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. At the moment, scientists at the University
Halle-Wittenberg, Germany, are evaluating the samples of the first study
phase. As a result, the Asklepios Clinic Wandsbek becomes the pioneer in this
clinical research in Europe.
The main opponents are dangerous, antibiotic-resistant bacteria (MRSA),
with which more and more patients worldwide fall ill in clinics and nursing
homes. Classical sanitary measures are often insufficient to prevent a
further spreading. 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,
which is why the field test will be continued in the second half of the year.
A complete evaluation is expected by early 2009.
Worldwide race against time
"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 explains the
motives for the field test. "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.
With its field test (two times eight weeks with weekly periodic
sampling), the Asklepios Clinic Wandsbeck is involved in a worldwide study
program. Comparable studies under clinical conditions are planned or are
being performed at the same time in Great Britain, South Africa, the US and
Japan. In Wandsbek, samples from door handles, door plates and light switches
were collected during the last weeks: both from common surfaces, e.g. made of
stainless steel, and from surfaces with cooper alloys. Experience has shown
that door handles and light switches are the most frequent surfaces of
transmission.
50,000 casualties in Europe alone every year
According to serious estimates, more than half a million of such
nosocomial infections - i.e. caught in the clinic - occur every year, in
German hospitals alone. According to the European Centre for Disease
Prevention and Control (ECDC), there are three million cases all over Europe,
of which 50,000 are fatal. Antibiotic-resistant germs like MRSA (MRSA stands
for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) present a particularly high
danger in this context.
In addition to the partly life-threatening danger for the patients, there
is also an enormous economic damage which might amount to billions in Germany
alone. For the US, there is an estimate by the Center for Disease Control
(CDC), according to which nosocomial infections incur costs of more than 4.5
billion US dollars. In Great Britain, the National Health Service (NHS)
estimates the additional costs at one billion pounds sterling every year.
According to estimates, patients who contract MRSA in the clinic stay in
sickbed up to four days longer on average and incur additional costs to the
amount of 4,000 Euro, in individual cases even up to 20,000 Euro. The most
frequent complications with weakened patients after a MRSA infection include
wound infections, pneumonias, blood poisonings, and urinary tract infections.
Research is going full steam ahead worldwide
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. Current research is closing a
scientific gap which has existed for a very long time: "Humanity has had
positive experience with the hygienic effect of copper for thousands of
years", says Dr.-Ing. Anton Klassert, Business Manager of the German Copper
Institute (DKI). "Against the backdrop of the current problems in the health
care system, the DKI has now taken the first steps in order to apply these
properties of copper in a modern hospital", according to the Director of the
European Copper Competence Centre "Antimicrobial Properties".
Visual material and the PowerPoint presentations of the speakers on the
topic "Copper & Germs" are available on request.
Contact for media representatives:
Asklepios Clinics Hamburg
Mathias Eberenz
Tel.: +49-40-1818-826-632
m.eberenz@asklepios.com
German Copper Institute (DKI)
Ingrid Keller
Tel.: +49-211-47-96-314
ikeller@kupferinstitut.de
Source: Asklepios Kliniken
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