BACKGROUND

An increased proportion of Gram-negative bacteria have recently been reported among etiologic agents of infection. In Poland, is a big problem for hospitals, especially intensive care units. Touch surfaces made from materials with antimicrobial properties, especially copper alloys, are recommended as a supplementary method of increasing biological safety in the hospital environment.

AIM OF THE STUDY

The objective of this study is to determine the susceptibility to selected copper alloys of three clinical strains, one and an strain isolated from the hospital environment.

MATERIAL AND METHOD

The modification of the Japanese Standard, which the ISO 22196:2011 norm was used for testing antimicrobial properties of CuZn37, CuSn6 and CuNi18Zn20 and Cu-ETP and stainless steel as positive and negative control, respectively.

RESULTS

The highest cidal efficiency, expressed as both time and the degree of reduction of the initial suspension density, against all of the tested strains was found for ETP copper. But, the results of our study also confirmed effective activity (bacteriocidal or bacteriostatic) of copper alloys selected for the study, contrary to the stainless steel. The reduction in bacterial suspension density is significantly different depending on the strain and copper alloy composition.

CONSLUSIONS

The results of our study confirmed the effective antibacterial activity of copper and its selected alloys against clinical and strains, and strain isolated from the hospital environment.