Researchers at Grinnell College say using a copper mix for all types of metal materials in hospital rooms can cut down on dangerous bacteria, according to an article on the Radio Iowa website.
Students studied materials made with a copper alloy at the Grinnell Regional Medical Center.
They found was that on average, copper surfaces had 98 percent fewer bacteria than control surfaces.
“What separates our study from some previous work that had been done in ICU’s — we were looking in medical surgical suite rooms — these are rooms where patients are up and moving. We look at surfaces around the patients, but we also looked in the bathrooms. We had copper alloy sinks and grab bars and toilet flushes in the bathroom that we were testing in this study,” a student researcher said.
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