Abstract
Background: Hospital equipment made from copper alloys can play an important role in complementing traditional methods of disinfection. Aims of the study: The aim of this study was to assess the dynamics of the antimicrobial properties of selected copper alloys in different simulations of environmental conditions (with organic contamination vs. without organic contamination), and to test alternatives to the currently used testing methods. Materials and Methods: A modification of Japanese standard JIS Z 2801 as well as Staphylococcus aureus (SA) and Escherichia coli (EC) suspended in NaCl vs. tryptic soy broth (TSB) were used in tests performed on seven commonly used copper alloys, copper, and stainless steel. Results: A much faster reduction of the bacterial suspension was observed for the inoculum prepared in NaCl than in TSB. A faster reduction for EC than for SA was observed in the inoculum prepared in NaCl. The opposite results were found for the inoculum based on TSB. A significant correlation between the copper concentration in the copper alloys and the time and degree of bacterial suspension reduction was only observed in the case of EC. Conclusions: This study confirmed the antimicrobial properties of copper alloys, and additionally showed that Staphylococcus aureus was more resistant than Escherichia coli in the variant of the experiment without organic contamination. However, even for SA, a total reduction of the bacterial inoculum’s density took no longer than 2 h. Under conditions simulating organic contamination, all of the tested alloys were shown to have bactericidal or bacteriostatic properties, which was contrary to the results from stainless steel.
Highlights
There are different reservoirs of micro-organisms in a hospital’s inanimate environment [1,2,3].The proper use of hand hygiene by health care workers is a proven method of patient protection from pathogenic micro-organisms that are commonly present in the hospital environment [4].despite the intensification in recent years of educational campaigns devoted to hand hygiene, Int
The time and degree of bacterial suspension density reduction depended on the type of inoculucum and on the bacterial strain
The best antimicrobial properties against the studied Escherichia coli (EC) and Staphylococcus aureus (SA) reference strains were found for Electrolytic Tough Pitch (ETP)
Summary
There are different reservoirs of micro-organisms in a hospital’s inanimate environment [1,2,3].The proper use of hand hygiene by health care workers is a proven method of patient protection from pathogenic micro-organisms that are commonly present in the hospital environment [4].despite the intensification in recent years of educational campaigns devoted to hand hygiene, Int. The proper use of hand hygiene by health care workers is a proven method of patient protection from pathogenic micro-organisms that are commonly present in the hospital environment [4]. Materials and Methods: A modification of Japanese standard JIS Z 2801 as well as Staphylococcus aureus (SA) and Escherichia coli (EC) suspended in NaCl vs tryptic soy broth (TSB) were used in tests performed on seven commonly used copper alloys, copper, and stainless steel. Results: A much faster reduction of the bacterial suspension was observed for the inoculum prepared in NaCl than in TSB. Under conditions simulating organic contamination, all of the tested alloys were shown to have bactericidal or bacteriostatic properties, which was contrary to the results from stainless steel
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