A hospital is the last place you want to get ill

51% of patients in Intensive Care Units worldwide have infections and are more than twice as likely to die compared to patients without infections.^[1] 80% of infectious diseases are transferred by touch.^[2]

A worldwide study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association surveyed the infection status of over 13,000 patients from 1,200 Intensive Care Units (ICUs) in 75 countries.^[3] More than half of all patients had an infection.  The survey found that more than half of all patients had an infection and those that were infected were more than twice as likely to die as uninfected patients.  In addition to increased mortality, it was found that the risk for acquiring an infection increases the longer a patient stays in the ICU.  Of those patients that were in the ICU for a day or less, only 32% had infections, while of those patients that stayed in the ICU for more than a week 70% had infections.

80% of infectious diseases are transferred by touch.^[4] While healthcare professionals employ strict infection control measures including hand-washing and frequent surface disinfection, these measures are not enough as the number of hospital acquired infections each year continues to rise.^[5] Frequently touched surfaces in ICUs are heavily contaminated with anywhere from several hundred to over ten thousand colony forming units of infectious bacteria^[6].  These surfaces are touched by patients, families, doctors, nurses, and cleaning staff and it is exactly here where an added line of defence now is available.

Antimicrobial Copper touch surfaces kill the microbes that cause infections where they lie. Antimicrobial Copper surfaces are the most effective antimicrobial touch surface and are ideal for the healthcare environment where their inherent, continuous ability to kill bacteria will supplement infection control measures.

[1]  International Study of the Prevalence and Outcomes of Infection in Intensive Care  Units, JAMA, 2009; 302(21). December 2009.

[2]   The Secret Life of Germs. P Tierno, Atria Books: New York, NY, USA. 2001.

[3]   International Study of the Prevalence and Outcomes of Infection in Intensive Care Units, JAMA, 2009; 302(21), December 2009.

[4]   The Secret Life of Germs. P Tierno, Atria Books: New York, NY, USA. 2001.

[5]   International Study of the Prevalence and Outcomes of Infection in Intensive Care Units, JAMA, 2009; 302(21), December 2009.

[6]   A Pilot Study to Determine the Effectiveness of Copper in Reducing the Microbial Burden (MB) of Objects in Rooms of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Patients,C D Salgado, A Morgan, K A Sepkowitz et al. Poster 183, 5th Decennial International Conference on Healthcare-Associated Infections, Atlanta. March 29, 2010.