New research has revealed that the use of Antimicrobial Copper surfaces in hospital rooms can reduce the number of healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs) by 58% as compared to patients treated in Intensive Care Units with non-copper touch surfaces. In the United States, 1 out of every 20 hospital patients develops an HAI, resulting in an estimated 100,000 deaths per year. Although numerous strategies have been developed to decrease these infections, Antimicrobial Copper is the only strategy that works continuously, has been scientifically proven to be effective and doesn’t depend on human behaviour, according to a recently study.
‘The implications of this study are critical,’ said Dr. Harold Michels, Senior Vice President of the Copper Development Association (CDA). ‘Until now, the only attempts to reduce HAIs have required hand hygiene, increased cleaning and patient screening, which don’t necessarily stop the growth of these bacteria the way copper alloy surfaces do. We now know that copper is the game-changer: it has the potential to save lives.’
The study, funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, was conducted in the Intensive Care Units (ICUs) of three major hospitals: The Medical University of South Carolina, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City and the Ralph H. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Charleston, South Carolina. To determine the impact of copper alloy surfaces on the rate of HAIs, copper-surfaced objects were placed in each ICU, where patients are at higher risk due to the severity of their illnesses, invasive procedures and frequent interaction with healthcare workers. Patients were randomly placed in available rooms with or without copper alloy surfaces, and the rates of HAIs were compared. A total of 650 patients and 16 rooms (8 copper and 8 standard) were studied between July 12, 2010 and June 14, 2011.
Results of this study found that Antimicrobial Copper can continuously kill 83% of bacteria that cause HAIs within two hours, including strands resistant to antibiotics. The study compared copper to equivalent non-copper touch surfaces during active patient care between routine cleaning and sanitising.
‘Copper alloy surfaces offer an alternative way to reduce the increasing number of HAIs, without having to worry about changing healthcare worker behaviour,’ said Dr. Michael Schmidt, Vice Chairman of Microbiology and Immunology at the Medical University of South Carolina and one of the authors of the study. ‘Because the antimicrobial effect is a continuous property of copper, the regrowth of deadly bacteria is significantly less on these surfaces, making a safer environment for hospital patients.’
In study results, 46 patients developed an HAI, while 26 patients became colonised with MRSA or VRE. Overall, the proportion of patients who developed an HAI was significantly lower among those assigned to intensive care rooms with objects fabricated using copper alloys. There are currently hundreds of Antimicrobial Copper healthcare-related products available today, including IV poles, stretchers, tray tables and door hardware. EurekAlert

Older people often worry about dementia and while some risks are known, for example alcoholism or stroke, the effects of illness are less clear. New research looks at illness requiring hospitalisation and treatment in the intensive care unit (ICU) and finds that infection or severe sepsis, neurological dysfunction, such as delirium, or acute dialysis are all independently associated with an increased risk of a subsequent diagnosis of dementia.
This study was based on a random 5% of older (66 years or above) Medicare patients who were treated in intensive care in 2005 and whose health was followed for a further three years using Medicare claims data. Of the 25,368 patients included in the study 4,519 (17.8%) went on to receive a diagnosis of dementia during the three year follow up period.
Patients with previous indications of cognitive impairment for whom dementia could have been an escalation of a pre-existing condition were excluded from the study.
Increasing age was very strongly associated with diagnosis of dementia following ICU. The risk at 75 was more than double that of the 66 to 69 year olds. And this rose to more than five times the risk for those age 85 and older. Women had a marginally higher risk than men and, as other studies have shown, race was also important to risk. Length of stay in ICU was not a factor nor was the need for mechanical ventilation.
Three factors related to the critical illness were independently associated with an increased risk of a diagnosis of dementia: a critical illness with the presence of an infection which increased to a higher risk with more severe infection such as severe sepsis, having acute neurologic dysfunction during critical illness, including anoxic brain damage, encephalopathy, and transient mental disorders, and finally acute renal failure requiring dialysis. This last risk was time-dependent and only increased the risk 6 months after the patient had been discharged from hospital.
Dr Hannah Wunsch, from Columbia University Medical Center, lead author of the study commented, ‘Due to increasing life spans and better hospital care, millions of older people now survive a critical illness every year. Our study provides a greater understanding of the consequences of these hospitalisations on subsequent risk of receiving a diagnosis of dementia, and may allow for better planning and targeting future studies to high risk populations.’ EurekAlert

Two patients freed from severe to disabling effects of dystonia through deep brain stimulation therapy continued to have symptom relief for months after their devices accidentally were fully or partly turned off.
‘Current thought is that symptoms will worsen within hours or days of device shut-off, but these two young men continued to have clinical benefit despite interruption of DBS therapy for several months. To our knowledge, these two cases represent the longest duration of retained benefit in primary generalised dystonia. Moreover, when these patients

Older adults represent an important and growing demographic in emergency departments (ED) across the country, with urinary tract infections (UTIs) being one of the leading causes for ED visits. In fact, UTIs, which can progress to serious health concerns, are the fourth most common diagnosis in women over age 65. But a new study at Rhode Island Hospital has found that many such women receive treatment for a UTI, but have no firm evidence of such an infection, resulting in the prescribing of unnecessary antibiotics.

The study, conducted by Leonard Mermel, DO, medical director of the department of epidemiology and infection control at Rhode Island Hospital, and his colleagues found that collection of urine to rule in, or rule out, a UTI in this patient population is best done by inserting a temporary catheter into the bladder to collect the specimen rather than collecting urine by the so-called

Physicians may soon have a new way to screen patients for Barrett