Professor Tom Elliott, Consultant Microbiologist at the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, presented to an international audience of infection control experts in Lisbon, Portugal at the 5^th International Day for Fighting Infection.

As leader of the clinical trial of antimicrobial copper touch surfaces, and a globally-renowned expert on the subject of environmental contamination control, he offered an overview of his trial’s results, which showed copper and copper alloy surfaces (collectively termed ‘antimicrobial copper’) had greater than 90% fewer micro-organisms on them than control surfaces made from standard materials such as stainless steel and plastics.

This drastic reduction in contamination on frequently-touched surfaces such as taps, door handles, light switches and dressings trolleys means a reduction in the risk of harmful bacteria being picked up by hand contact and passed between vulnerable patients, staff and visitors.

“Self-disinfecting surfaces such as copper are a significant step forward in reducing infection-causing microbial bioloads on clinical surfaces,” he explained. “We should now ask the question: why select a non-antimicrobial surface when we now know that some naturally-occurring metals, such as copper, have this intrinsic antimicrobial activity?”

In the trial, Professor Elliott judged that the cost of installing antimicrobial copper surfaces on the 20-bed general medical ward was roughly equivalent to the cost associated with treating 1.5 healthcare-associated infections.

He further pointed out: “For the one-off cost of installing antimicrobial copper surfaces, you get continuous microbial contamination reduction throughout the products’ life, and these materials are durable and long-lasting.”

Another topic covered in the presentation, offering additional support for a rapid payback on an investment in antimicrobial copper, was initial data from a Department of Defence-funded US trial in three different medical facilities. This reported a greater than 40% reduction in a patient’s risk of acquiring a healthcare-associated infection when staying in an ICU room with just six highly-touched surfaces made from antimicrobial copper, offering the first indication of actual infection reduction.

“It’s what I would call an intelligent metal,” Professor Elliott summarises. “The copper is quietly working away in the background, killing organisms all the time. It needs to be part of what we call a bundle of care in terms of an approach to preventing infection. This gives us another arm, another weapon to fight infection which is around us and challenging us all the time. So I would see this in addition to the measures we are taking at the moment.”