Copper door handles to beat MRSA

They have proved resistant to even the most powerful antibiotics. But hospital superbugs may finally have met their match - in copper door handles. Copper, used in medicines for 4,000 years, has been shown to be highly effective in killing off viruses such as MRSA. Even the H5N1 bird flu virus could be vulnerable to it.So successful have laboratory results been, that all the stainless steel fittings in one hospital ward are to be replaced with copper ones to see if they cut infection rates.Doorknobs, bath taps, toilet handles and 'grab rails' will be ripped out and replaced with copper versions at Birmingham's Selly Oak hospital.

Source: medgadget.comAdded: 4 April 2007