By Shelia Watson
Staff Writer

Ralph H. Johnson Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the Medical University of South Carolina will be on the front lines of the battle to reduce the number of hospital-acquired infections.

The two hospitals will be part of a study to determine if using copper on touch surfaces reduces the incidence of infections.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that about 2 million hospital-acquired infections occur every year in the United States, resulting in nearly 100,000 deaths and costing more than $5 billion annually in this country alone.

In addition, the U.S. Department of Defense has reported an increase in the number of bloodstream infections due to bacteria in U.S. military hospitals where service members injured in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan were being treated.

Staying well can be costly too.

The CDC has reported that respiratory infections result in $35 billion in sick leave annually, while the DOD has noted that in U.S. military populations, respiratory illnesses account for 25% to 30% of outpatient hospital admissions.

Those data are the basis for two DOD-sponsored studies to determine the antimicrobial effectiveness of copper, brass and bronze. Both studies were awarded to the Copper Development Association, the information, education, marketing and technical development arm of the copper, brass and bronze industries in the United States.

The studies, to be carried out under the Telemedicine and Advanced Technologies Research Center, a section of the Army Medical Research and Material Command, will be implemented by the Advanced Technology Institute, an affiliate of the South Carolina Research Authority.

Mike Stebbins, a program manager at ATI, said one study will focus on the ability of copper metals to kill deadly pathogens on touch surfaces in hospital facilities and the other will focus on the effectiveness of copper components in heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.

The Copper Antimicrobial Research Touch Surfaces study was awarded $2.4 million and the Copper Antimicrobial Research Air Quality study was awarded $2 million. Both studies are one-year projects, with the congressionally appropriated funds renewable for five years, depending on passage of the federal budget.

The touch-surfaces study will conduct a series of three clinical trials to determine whether copper can decrease hospital-acquired infections in patients in hospital settings. The first of the trials will be carried out at the Johnson VA Medical Center, MUSC and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, Stebbins said.

“The second clinical trial will take place in the cancer wards at MUSC and at Sloan Kettering,” Stebbins said. “The final clinical trial will be in a general GI-type ward at MUSC.”

Microbial growth on touch surfaces is a growing concern to health care providers, according to Harold Michels, vice president of technical and information services for the Copper Development Association.

“A positive outcome to these studies will provide hospitals with solid information on an additional method of combating increasing infection rates and controlling virulent, antibiotic-resistant pathogens,” he said.

The companion air-quality study will compare copper cooling components, such as coils, heat exchange fins and drip pans, with components made of aluminum to demonstrate how copper can reduce exposure to harmful microbes within HVAC systems and throughout the buildings they serve.

The air-quality study will be carried out at the University of South Carolina, the Moncrief Army Community Hospital and barracks at Fort Jackson and the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. Charleston-based Albrecht Environmental Inc. will assist in the study.

“Basically we’re trying to prove that this can reduce airborne pathogens,” said Stebbins.

“The results of these real-world trials should encourage a leap forward in the design of HVAC systems and make a major contribution to the reduction of ‘sick building syndrome’ and the improvement of indoor air quality,” said Michels.

The studies are not the only research projects being conducted on copper. A peer-reviewed research was conducted recently at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom to prove that copper, brass and bronze can quickly and efficiently eradicate several different pathogens that are the source of many hospital-acquired infections, including E. coli and an antibiotic-resistant bacterium commonly known as the “superbug.”

Other studies were conducted by ATS Labs in Eagan, Minn., under test protocols established by the Environmental Protection Agency. The results show solid copper alloys are more than 99.9% effective on five pathogens commonly found in health care facilities.

None of the research is surprising to Stebbins and his colleagues.

“Copper is a naturally antimicrobial engineering material that has been shown to pervasively kill bacteria in laboratory studies,” he said.

If copper lives up to such wide acclaim, how soon before copper door handles and copper countertops are the norm?

“Well, we’re fleshing out the hypothesis now,” said Stebbins. “Plus many people aren’t aware of the antimicrobial factor. It’s a matter of pushing the knowledge and technology and transitioning it outside of the program.

“There’s also a cost factor. There will be cost implications for manufacturing because copper isn’t cheap. But then, there’s the fact of knowing you have in your court this attribute of material that no other material can claim. That’s worth a lot.”

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