At one point, copper was so inexpensive, it was used to make pennies. Now, a form of the metal may save not only money, but also lives, when used on commonly-touched items in hospital patient rooms.

A multi-site clinical trial funded by DoD demonstrated that the use of antimicrobial copper surfaces in intensive-care units (ICUs) resulted in a 97% reduction of bacteria that causes hospital acquired infections (HAIs). In addition, the study found a 40% reduction in the risk of acquiring an infection.

These early study results were presented at the World Health Organization’s 1^st International Conference on Prevention and Infection Control (ICPIC) in Geneva in July.

The study was designed to determine the efficacy of antimicrobial copper in reducing the level of pathogens in hospital ICU patient rooms, and to determine whether a reduction would translate into a lower risk of infection. The study was done in ICU patient rooms at three participating hospitals — Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York as well as the Medical University of South Carolina and the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, both in Charleston.

Researchers replaced items such as bed-rails, over-bed tray tables, nurse call buttons and IV poles with antimicrobial copper versions. Patients were then randomly placed into rooms, with or without the copper replacements.

“We were able to substantially reduce the incidence of hospital-acquired infections in patients that were treated in rooms with a limited number of copper objects,” said one of the researchers, Dr. Michael Schmidt, professor and vice chairman of Microbiology and Immunology at the Medical University of South Carolina.