[thedoc (OP)]

Tom Ettinger MD asked the Naked Scientists:

Hi from the great state of Washington.  I have been listening for a few years and have a research project for you.  You mentioned that some hospitals are using brass and copper to help prevent hospital aquirred infections.  Does wearing a copper brass or silver bracelet reduce bad bacterial counts on my hands.  I'm an Emergency Physician and wear a brass copper and silver bracelet.  Are my patients safer?    They often ask if it works, I tell my patients that  I have not been abducted by aliens since  I started wearing it.

Love the podcast.

What do you think?

[thedoc (OP)]

We discussed this question on our  show
Kat Arney put this question to Chris Smith, Here’s a clip of the interview Tom’s referring to. This was an interview that Chris Did with professor Bill Keevil from the University of Southampton in February...
Bill - Copper’s a very interesting metal. It’s actually quite reactive and we’ve found that with bacteria, it stops the bacteria respiring - so they stop breathing - it can punch holes in their cell membranes so that their constituents leak out, and it can destroy their DNA. We developed a model system where we simulated a hand touch onto a surface and put in several million MRSA onto those surfaces. They started to die literally as soon as they touched the surface.
Chris - Your hypothesis then is that when the bugs are on that surface, the copper is producing all of these chemicals, the bugs find themselves in a really hostile environment and it just destroys them.
Bill - Absolutely correct. And, in fact,iIt’s been very exciting that partly out of the lab work we started, people have been putting different copper alloys in hospitals all over the world and, in every case, they’re reporting something like a 90% reduction in the number of bugs you can actually detect on the copper surfaces. And what’s really exciting - a study was undertaken - two hospitals in New York, one in Charleston and there, looking at all the data, they’re reporting a 58% reduction in infection rates. So I think that’s a classic example of translation from the laboratory into the realworld setting.
Kat - Chris you’re a virologist, what’s going on, is wearing a metal bracelet like Tom’s helping to cut down his infection risk?
Chris - The answer is, I’m sorry to say Tom, probably not for a number of reasons. One - health control policies certainly in NHS hospitals in the UK dictate that you’re not allowed to wear wrist things like watches or bangles or bracelet, and you’re allowed one gold band on one finger, like your wedding ring. Now the reason for doing that is that if you put bits of jewellry and other stuff round your hands, it actually impairs your ability to wash your hands properly. And the copper is really only toxic, it appears, when it’s in close apposition to the bacteria. In other words, the bacteria on that surface. There’s not enough copper, although your arm very often does go that attractive shade of green if you wear one of these things. There’s not enough copper probably leaking onto the skin to make much difference to your microbial burden and you, therefore, probably will just succumb to poorer washing and hand hygiene than if you don’t wear the bangle. So the best advice is probably not to wear it and just wash your hands really well.
Click to visit the show page for the podcast in which this question is answered. Alternatively, [chapter podcast=1001336 track=16.04.19/Naked_Scientists_Show_16.04.19_1005018.mp3] listen to the answer now[/chapter] or [download as MP3]