"Antimicrobial Copper Effective in Major Urban Transit System"

Purpose: To demonstrate reduced bacterial contamination and load on common touch surfaces in urban mass transit vehicles and headquarter outfitted with antimicrobial copper foil as compared to stainless steel surfaces.Methods: Antimicrobial copper foil containing 99.9% copper was adhered to multiple stanchions, grab rails, door handles, and other common touch surfaces on a bus, a Los Angeles Metro rail car, and headquarter building.After 3 months of regular use by transit riders and office workers, the surfaces were swabbed, immediately placed in medium, and cultured for 24 hours.For control, nearby, comparable stainless steel surfaces were also swabbed and cultured.Outcome Measure: Rate of contamination and number of bacterial colony forming units (CFU) were measured.Results: The samples were grouped into Group A (headquarter) and Group B (bus and Metro rail car).The contamination rate was significantly higher in the non-copper (100% Group A and 76.9% Group B) vs. copper group (11.1% Group A and 7.7% Group B) by Fisher's Exact Test (p = 0.0004 Group A and 0.001 Group B).The non-copper surfaces also had significantly higher bacterial loads (mean of 12 CFU in Group A and 2.5 CFU in Group B) than the copper surfaces (mean of 0.1 CFU in Group A and 0.1 CFU in Group B) by Kruskal-Wallis test (p = 0.0002 for Group A and 0.0004 in Group B). Conclusion:A method of employing antimicrobial copper reduced bacterial contamination and load on frequently touched surfaces in urban mass transit system used by both mass transit riders and Los Angeles Metro office workers, and may prevent spread of disease.