Bacteria-fighting copper making a comeback in healthcare facilities where hospitals are installing copper components on 'high-touch' surfaces, according to an article on The Washington Post website.

“We’ve known for a long time that copper and other metals are effective in killing microbes, so it wasn’t a great leap to incorporate copper surfaces into hospitals,” said John Lynch, medical director of infection control at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center, which is redesigning a waste-disposal room to incorporate copper on light switches and door handles.

Copper can kill or inactivate a variety of pathogens by interacting with oxygen and modifying oxygen molecules. In bacteria, this disrupts the outer layer, damaging the genetic material and cell machinery, which can lead to cell death. A recent study found that copper also destroys norovirus.

There has been only one published clinical trial showing how copper reduces infections in hospitals, the article said. Researchers said the study, which took place between July 2010 and June 2011, showed that copper surfaces reduced infection rates by 58 percent.

Read the article.