Hospital company installs 600 copper door handles to aid infection control

Asklepios Kliniken Hamburg, a private hospital operator in Germany, has installed 600 copper door handles to reduce the potential for germ transmission in what it has called “the largest project of its kind in Europe and USA,” according to a press release.

“With the use of hundreds of copper handles to prevent infection, we have now set a further milestone on the important topic of hygiene, demonstrating once again our leading role in combating and reducing hazardous germs, especially multidrug-resistant pathogens,” Thomas Wolfram, MD, MBA, spokesman for Asklepios Kliniken Hamburg, said in the release.

According to the hospital, microbes could be reduced by two-thirds and critical and intensive care units may particularly benefit.

Susanne Huggett, MD, medical director of Asklepios’ MEDILYS laboratory in Hamburg called the move a positive step. “Based on spot checks carried out in the summer, it is reportedly expected that under everyday conditions in hospitals the use of copper handles could achieve a reduction of germs by more than 50% compared to the spread of germs on traditional door handles,” she said in the release.

Anton Klassert, DE, business manager of the German Copper Institute said it is known that copper chips were stirred into ancient ointments for wound disinfection.

“The realization that copper has a disinfecting effect goes all the way back to ancient Egypt at the time of the pharaohs,” Klassert said. “With the help of modern science, we are only now beginning to understand how copper can have this effect.”