A startup by the name of Copper BioHealth is looking to use bed railings made of copper to bring down the number of infections at hospitals.
People have a great chance of encountering an infection when they enter a hospital, with the World Health Organization estimating that "hundreds of millions of people around the world are infected," by healthcare-acquired infections every year, according to NPR. U.S. agencies like the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion in the Health and Human Services Department estimate that hospital-related infections occur among 1 in 25 patients, and the risk is greater in developing countries.
Copper BioHealth, led by 33-year-old Constanza Correa, has been developing new railings for hospitals in Santiago, Chile since 2013, as hospital bed safety railings are a major source for these infections.
Copper has been known since ancient times to be a powerful germ killer. A journal article titled "Applied and Environmental Microbiology" cited an Egyptian medical text written around 2,600-2000 B.C. that said the metal was used to sterilize chest wounds and drinking water.
The metal is rarely used at medical facilities, but is mostly seen on doorknobs, which has been proven to kill 95 percent of superbugs like pneumonia and MRSA, The Blaze reported.
Correa said in an interview that people who are already sick can get even worse at hospitals, and that they then have to stay longer and spend more money on treatment, which can sometimes lead to death.
Touching hospital surfaces is responsible for 80 percent of these infections, NPR reported.
"In the hospital room, the most contaminated surface is the bed rail. It's the most manipulated by medical staff and patients. It's in direct contact with the patient. That's the most critical surface in the room," Correa said.
"Our objective is to decrease the chance of infection due to surface contact. So we replace current bed rails with copper rails. It kills viruses, fungi, and bacteria continuously."
Copper BioHealth is currently observing how well their new railings do in keeping patients in Chilean hospitals from getting sicker. Correa said the copper railings are currently being used in 150 beds at four hospitals in the country.
Correa also hopes copper can be used for other things in hospitals like IV poles, tables and fibers in mattress covers, according to The Blaze.
"Copper kills everything," she said. "Why wouldn't you use it?"
