Antimicrobial Copper Research

This page is intended to provide details of the scientific research being carried out at various centres around the world to investigate the antimicrobial efficacy of copper and its alloys on a range of pathogens and to study the mechanism of action. Laboratory and clinical groups are shown though the list is by no means exhaustive.

For peer-reviewed published papers see Published Papers.

UK	USA	Japan	South Africa	Mechanism Group

UK

University of Southampton, UK - Professor Bill Keevil

Professor C W Keevil, Director of the Environmental Care Unit in the School of Biological Sciences, and his team at the University of Southampton, examine survival rates of deposits of pathogens (including MRSA, E coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Influenza A (H1N1), Aspergillus niger, Clostridium difficile) in a dry environment on stainless steel (the metal most commonly used in healthcare and food processing institutions) and on a range of copper alloys.

This research has shown that copper and copper alloys exhibit broad spectrum antimicrobial activity. For example, a 1cm² copper surface inactivates 10 million Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), the so-called hospital ‘superbug’, in as little as 90 minutes at room temperature. Similar studies show that copper is equally effective at eliminating the often deadly E. Coli (O157:H7) as well as Listeria monocytogenes — a bacterium that originates in soil and water and is spread during food handling.

Effect of epidemic methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus-16 (EMRSA-16) inoculum size on time for total inactivation when exposed to copper (C19700).
Points represent the mean (N=3) +/- standard error of the mean.

Source: 'Potential use of copper surfaces to reduce survival of epidemic Methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus in the healthcare environment' - J O Noyce, H Michels and C W Keevil.

Published Papers

Aston University, Birmingham, UK - Professor Peter Lambert

Professor Peter Lambert is one of the lead researchers working on the Selly Oak Copper Clinical Trial, responsible for the microbiological testing. In his lab, he has also tested copper and copper alloys for their efficacy against clinical strains of pathogens including Clostridium difficile, using a germinant to accelerate kill times of spores.

Lecture - Hospital Superbugs, 22nd January 2008.

Published Papers

University of Northumbria, UK - Professor Rob Reed

Professor Rob Reed works on water treatment processes, including solar disinfection and safe storage of drinking water and studies responses of microorganisms to environmental stress. His team of researchers have studied the role of traditional copper and brass water storage vessels in water purification in rural India. (Prof Reed is now Professor of Biomedical Sciences at CQ University, Australia.)

Brass and copper containers for water purification in rural India

USA

Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) - Michael G. Schmidt, Ph.D

Dr Schmidt is Professor and Vice Chairman of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology with research interests in bacterial protein export, molecular pathogenesis, biodefense preparedness, biofilm development and succession, environmental microbiology and most recently the role the inherent microbial burden associated with objects from the built environment plays in the acquisition of Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs).

In concert with colleagues from the Infectious Disease Division of MUSC, the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center of Charleston, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the Copper Development Association, Dr Schmidt is investigating the relationship that the inherent microbial burden plays in conferring a risk that a patient will either be colonized or develop an infection from the microbes associated with the objects encountered as a result of routine care while in hospital.

NPR Science Friday podcast – interview with Dr Schmidt (8 mins 52 sec)

Japan

Kitasato University, Japan - Dr Takeshi Sasahara

Dr Takeshi Sasahara is an Assistant Professor at the Kitasato University School of Medicine. He belongs to the Department of Microbiology and Parasitology. His speciality is Environmental Microbiology and Infection Immunology. He has made numerous presentations and papers on his research at the Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases and the Japanese Society of Chemotherapy.

He has investigated the bactericidal activity of copper and its alloys in the hospital environment. Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were killed when grown on the surface of copper alloys, depending on the incubation period, with P aeruginosa being the most sensitive. Japanese coins made of nickel silver, cupronickel, bronze and brass also inhibited the growth of these bacteria on nutrient agar.

On the basis of these results, a clinical trial was started to monitor the level of contamination by nosocomia bacteria on the surface of copper alloys in the Dematology Ward and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Kitasato University Hospital from 2005. It was found that copper alloys had a superior sanitising effect in the hospital environment.

South Africa

University of Stellenbosch, South Africa - Professor Shaheen Mehtar

In the preliminary phase of the African Health Care Initiative, a team of specialist scientists from the University of Stellenbosch, led by internationally renowned Infection Control Specialist, Professor Shaheen Mehtar, proved for the first time internationally via in vitro testing of clinical strains that copper touch surfaces are effective in killing multi-drug resistant bacteria including tuberculosis.

These very exciting observations are now being followed up in South Africa via testing in a real clinic environment. Professor Mehtar's team will be documenting copper's biostatic abilities in both a copper fitted TB 'cough room' at a provincial hospital and at a copper fitted rural health clinic. The learning from these first phase clinical trials will be carried through to a second phase of some 12 clinics across some 6 Southern African countries.

Published Papers

Mechanism Group

Copper is an essential nutrient for humans as well as bacteria, but in high doses, copper ions can cause a series of negative events in bacterial cells. The exact mechanism by which copper kills bacteria is still unknown but several theories exist and are being studied by a group of international experts, see below.