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the antimicrobial action of copper in hospitals entails the reduction of the use of antibiotics and hospitalization time.

16th National Congress and international V of the Spanish society of preventive medicine, public health and hygiene.

– the doctor Panagiotis Efstathiou, specialist in preventive medicine has been conferred on how hospitals copper surfaces are between 90 and 100% less than other microbial contamination materials.

-experts advise the use of copper surfaces especially in areas with high bacterial flora as units of care intensive.

-The prevention of nosocomial diseases involves the reduction of the use of antibiotics and hospitalization time, as well as the consequent reduction of the costs of operation of a hospital.

Madrid, may 2011.- in the framework of the 16th Congress and 5th International of preventive medicine, which is being held in Maspalomas (Gran Canaria), Dr. Panagiotis Efstathiou, Secretary General of the Hellenic University of Orthopedic surgeons and President of the Executive Committee on pandemic diseases of the Ministry of health and Social solidarity of Greece, it has conferred on the use of copper in hospitals for the prevention of infections, an issue of vital importance if one takes into account that 4 million European contract infections in hospitals each year.

as Dr. Efstathiou said the medical community gathered in Maspalomas, has shown that “ thanks to its antimicrobial properties, the use of copper as a material for the contact surfaces in hospitals reduces in a few minutes the flora in more than 90%, while they survive for weeks on other surfaces such as stainless steel or plastic ”. The doctor has referred to the need for new methods to combat certain ‘ Super bacteria ’, and also to eradicate non-rational use of antibiotics in recent years. These reasons are those that have led to the realization of various research projects, both tests in the laboratory and in hospitals, on the antimicrobial properties of copper in healthcare environments, which have shown rapid reduction of microbial flora in the surfaces of copper or its alloys.

reduction in the use of antibiotics and expenditure hospital.

“ the antimicrobial action of copper alloys means a reduction of microbial flora. This entails a reduction in the use of antibiotics and the time of hospitalization of a patient, and therefore, the consequent reduction of the costs of operation of a hospital, which is very important in a time of economic crisis ”, commented Dr. Efstathiou.

hospital environments more hygienic using surfaces of copper.

according to various studies, 80 per cent of hospital-acquired infections are transmitted by contact through intermediate surfaces such as knobs doors, the railings, the bars of the beds, taps, carts of nursing, etc. If these surfaces were made of copper alloys could achieve a more hygienic environment, with a positive impact on the well-being of patients.

United Kingdom studies corroborate each year, 300,000 people acquire a nosocomial infection in a hospital, of whom 5,000 are killed. The impact in the coffers of the national health system is 1 billion pounds annually. It is not difficult to estimate the figures of Spain with a population that is two-thirds the British. Also, throughout Europe about 4 million people annually acquired nosocomial infections, 37,000 deaths, in addition to the immense human cost a cost to the public health systems of 80 billion dollars worldwide, according to estimates by the World Health Organization (who). In addition, the antimicrobial resistance (and its spread global, jeopardize the effectiveness of many medications used today in the treatment of diseases infectious.

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CEDIC.

CEDIC, is a professional association of companies in the basic of the copper industry in Spain that develops an essentially informative activity in two different aspects. On the one hand it promotes and supports studies or research aimed at improving the techniques of obtaining, processing and use of copper. On the other hand, brings together all the documentation produced in Spain and in other countries, concerning the copper to publicize her.

in this line, CEDIC has established a relationship of mutual cooperation with organizations public or private, national or foreign, with parallel to their own objectives. Among others, the International Copper Association (ICA), with headquarters in New York, the European Copper Institute (ECI), based in Brussels, in addition to other twenty-three similar CEDIC centres distributed throughout the world, eleven of them in Europe.