Copper Hospital Beds Could Save Millions of Lives Since New Study Says They Harbor 95% Less Bacteria

A new study has found that copper hospital beds in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) harbored an average of 95% fewer bacteria than conventional hospital beds—and maintained these low-risk levels throughout patients’ stay in hospital.

The research is published this week in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

“Hospital-acquired infections sicken approximately 2 million Americans annually, and kill nearly 100,000—numbers roughly equivalent to the number of deaths if a wide-bodied jet crashed every day,” said co-author Dr. Michael G. Schmidt, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston. “Despite the best efforts by environmental services workers, they are neither cleaned often enough, nor well enough.”


https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/copper-hospital-beds-harbor-95-less-bacteria-than-conventional-beds/

Read something about Copper Door Handles being Bacteria resistant some time ago !

Can anyone tell me why I can only see posts that are scrolling up on the left ?

Correction, on the right !

There used to be a lot of copper plates and handles on hospital (and other) buildings' doors for this reason.

Why not make those beds out of silver  ?

Silver can actually have some antimicrobial/antibacterial effects against many of those wee li'l beasties..

'Wolfie wrote:

Why not make those beds out of silver  ?

Silver can actually have some antimicrobial/antibacterial effects against many of those wee li'l beasties..

I was going to suggest that! Don’t know how I knew this fact, but must’ve read it somewhere.

Colloidal Silver can be used as a spray for its antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal properties.

Vintage wrote:Colloidal Silver can be used as a spray for its antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal properties.

Do they use that in hospitals, vintage, do you know?

I don't think so I think its more an alternative medicine, although I think it is used in dressings for things like ulcers if I remember correctly.

You can also get "silver infused" medical dressings (e.g. gauzes, pads, bandages) --  as a part of normal 'mainstream' medical practice  --  that are used for severe infections, on burns patients, and with patients with 'compromised immune systems'.

One reason that they aren't used more often by medico's and ambo's is that one dressing can retail at $50 -->> $60, compared with only a $few$ for the usual similar sized sterile dressings found in pharmacies..

I used one that I got for nothing (it was among some surplus dressings and bandages that my parents had on hand..) on a wound after keyhole surgery several years ago --  and all I can say is that the wound healed up clean after a few days.  I don't think I would have been ready to pay $60 for that one single-use item at a pharmacy, though, when the standard dressings are only a fraction of the price --  with me it was convenient because it was available at the time, but could be considerd "overkill" by someone who has to be aware of costs..