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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, Aspergillus niger) 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 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. |
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 |
