Product Spotlight
Copper Kills Corona-virus by Franklin Bronze Precision Components F
ranklin Bronze Precision Components has the capabilities and expertise to cast an antimicrobial, lead free metal, bronze alloy CDA 87850, as door handles,
knobs, brackets, fixtures and more to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and flatten the curve. Public areas, hospitals and medical facilities can benefit. According to the EPA, the surfaces of copper and its alloys, such as brass and bronze, are antimicrobial. [1]
Above: Antimicrobial door handles cast by Franklin Bronze using C87850, Ecobrass, a lead-free brass alloy designated and registered by the Federal EPA to be antimicrobial.
Copper
alloy surfaces have intrinsic properties to destroy a wide range of microorganisms – including COVID-19. On copper alloys, the corona-virus was “rapidly inactivated.” [2]
Over 99.9% of
E. coli microbes are killed after just 1-2 hours on copper. On stainless steel surfaces, the microbes can survive for weeks. [3] The corona-virus lives on copper for 4 hours, on cardboard for 1 day, and on plastic for 3 days. [4] Copper would be best deployed, according to Bill Keevil, professor of environmental healthcare at the University of Southampton, in hospitals and medical facilities. [5] If copper was used more frequently in hospitals, where 1
in 31 people get healthcare-acquired infections (HAI), or in high-traffic areas, where many people touch surfaces teeming with microbial life—it could play an invaluable role in public health, said Michael Schmidt, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the Medical University of South Carolina, who studies copper. [6]
In the U.S. alone, there are about 1.7 million infections and
99,000 deaths linked to HAIs (healthcare-acquired infections) per year, which cost between $35.7 and $45 billion annually, from the extra treatments people need when they get infected.[7]
20 ❘ May 2020 ®
“We’ve seen viruses just blow apart,” says Bill Keevil, professor of environmental healthcare at the University of Southampton. “They land on copper and it just degrades them.” [6] Schmidt said that one of the reasons scientists are worried about the current corona-virus is how infectious it is, and a major way people might be getting it is from touching contaminated surfaces. [6]
Why Copper Is Antimicrobial “Copper is continuously working 24/7 without supervision, without any need to intervene, and it never runs out,” Schmidt said. “As long as the metal’s there, it’s good to go.” [6] On copper surfaces, bacteria and viruses die. When a microbe lands on a copper surface, the copper releases ions, which are electrically charged particles. Those copper ions blast through the outer membranes and destroy the whole cell, including the DNA or RNA inside. Because their DNA and RNA are destroyed, it also means a bacteria or virus can’t mutate and become resistant to the copper, or pass on genes (like for antibiotic resistance) to other microbes. [6]
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