1Programa de Microbiología y Micología, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
2Instituto de Química, Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile.
Antimicrob Resist Infect Control. 2019 Jan 5;8:3. doi: 10.1186/s13756-018-0456-4. eCollection 2019.
Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) have a major impact on public health worldwide. Particularly, hospital surfaces contaminated with bacterial pathogens are often the origin of both sporadic cases and outbreaks of HAIs. It has been demonstrated that copper surfaces reduce the microbial burden of high touch surfaces in the hospital environment. Here we report the antimicrobial characterization of a novel composite coating with embedded copper particles, named Copper Armour™.
The Copper Armour™ bactericidal activity was evaluated in in vitro assays against several bacterial pathogens, including , , O157:H7 and Additionally, its antimicrobial properties were also evaluated in a pilot study over a nine-week period at an adult intensive care unit. For this, four high touch surfaces, including bed rails, overbed table, bedside table and IV Pole, were coated with Cooper Armour™, and its microbial burden was determined over a nine-week period.
Copper Armour™ coated samples showed an in vitro reduction in bacterial burden of > 99.9% compared to control samples. Moreover, pilot study results indicate that Copper Armour™ significantly reduces the level of microbial contamination on high-touch surfaces in the hospital environment, as compared with standard surfaces.
Based on its antimicrobial properties, Copper Armour™ is a novel self-sanitizing coating that exhibits bactericidal activity against important human pathogens and significantly reduces the microbial burden of hospital surfaces. This composite could be used as a self-sanitizing coating to complement infection control strategies in healthcare facilities.
医疗保健相关感染（HAIs）对全球公共卫生有重大影响。特别是，被细菌病原体污染的医院表面通常是散发性病例和 HAIs 爆发的源头。已经证明铜表面可以减少医院环境中高接触表面的微生物负担。在这里，我们报告了一种新型复合涂层的抗菌特性，该涂层嵌入了铜颗粒，名为 Copper Armour™。
在体外试验中评估了 Copper Armour™对几种细菌病原体的杀菌活性，包括 、 、 、O157:H7 和 。此外，还在成人重症监护病房进行了为期九周的试点研究，评估其抗菌性能。为此，将 Copper Armour™涂覆在四个高接触表面上，包括床栏、床旁桌、床头柜和 IV 杆，并在九周内确定其微生物负担。
与对照样品相比，Copper Armour™涂覆的样品显示出体外细菌负担减少了>99.9%。此外，试点研究结果表明，与标准表面相比，Copper Armour™可显著降低医院环境中高接触表面的微生物污染水平。
基于其抗菌特性，Copper Armour™是一种新型自消毒涂层，对重要的人类病原体具有杀菌活性，并显著降低了医院表面的微生物负担。这种复合材料可用于作为自消毒涂层，以补充医疗机构的感染控制策略。
