Scientists have developed a novel weapon in the battle against deadly hospital-acquired infections - a textile that disinfects itself.
And independent tests show it can reduce bacteria levels by more than 90 per cent.
By incorporating the specially-engineered textile in a device designed to be used on hospital doors instead of the traditional aluminium door plate, that part of the door that people push to open it - they aim to bolster hand hygiene.
The self-disinfecting device - known as Surfaceskins - has been developed by a spin out company from the University of Leeds and is the culmination of seven years research and development.
Hospital doors are recognised as a key weak link in hygiene because of the number of times people touch them.
You risk infection from hospital doors, not the homeless guy spewing in the bay next to you. This fabric will help.
E.L. Best et al, The potential of alcohol release doorplates to reduce surface contamination during hand contact, Journal of Hospital Infection (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.jhin.2017.07.027
(Score: 2, Insightful) by fustakrakich on Friday October 06 2017, @04:11PM (7 children)
As giant mutant cells envelop the building.
Why can't they just use copper instead of aluminum?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 06 2017, @04:35PM
Yes, more or less expensive than copper... assuming it works.
(Score: 2) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Friday October 06 2017, @04:57PM (2 children)
Or wood? A few years ago there were headlines about research on bacteria growth on wooden cutting boards. There wasn't any. The bugs died almost immediately.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday October 06 2017, @05:10PM (1 child)
Could be the mineral or other oils people use on the cutting boards??
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Informative) by frojack on Friday October 06 2017, @05:28PM
No:
https://commonsensehome.com/wooden-cutting-boards/ [commonsensehome.com]
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by KilroySmith on Friday October 06 2017, @05:43PM (1 child)
Someone's trying to sell the copper solution:
https://cuverro.com/ [cuverro.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 07 2017, @07:18AM
That "Cuverro" is just cupronickel. It is what the US "nickel" coin is made of.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupronickel [wikipedia.org]
It's the obvious choice. It's corrosion resistant to everything normal except ammonia. (ammonia attacks copper) It looks nice. Both copper and nickel damage bacteria, and with this you get both.
I really despise how we obscure everything behind trademarks. We lose understanding and standardization, which might be the whole point.
(Score: 2) by Kromagv0 on Friday October 06 2017, @06:11PM
Because that is a simple non-patentable invention. Besides slightly oxidized copper looks dirty while aluminum or stainless steel looks clean.
As another option they could go for some high copper yellow brass which while not as fast as pure copper is still effective. It has the added benefit of not oxidizing as fast so it looks cleaner longer.
T-Shirts and bumper stickers [zazzle.com] to offend someone
(Score: 3, Interesting) by requerdanos on Friday October 06 2017, @05:12PM (5 children)
A few months ago, a friend of mine passed away at 48 years old from an infection contracted while in the hospital. Went in the hospital for treatment for one thing, came out two weeks later dead from another.
It's okay with me if resources are concentrated to maybe reduce that happening.
Plus, judging from a very unscientific Google fight, hospital infections are, perhaps counter-intuitively, the more problematic.
"death from nosocomial infection": About 1,480 results
"death from hospital acquired pneumonia": About 4,240 results
"death from homeless spew": No results found for "death from homeless spew"
"death from touching a homeless person": No results found for "death from touching a homeless person"
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday October 06 2017, @05:44PM (1 child)
"Google fight" may be even less sophisticated than it looks. 💉💉💉💉💉💊💊💊💩💩💩💀
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Friday October 06 2017, @07:42PM
This is a San Diego reference, isn't it?
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 06 2017, @08:06PM (2 children)
You say this like it is "oh well, shit happens". Can you imagine the self righteous outrage from friends and family if he'd tried some kind of placebo "naturopathic" treatment instead and died (thinking of steve jobs here)? Aren't you pissed at the hospital?
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Friday October 06 2017, @09:40PM (1 child)
I don't say it that way as all. I am very, very pissed at the hospital, whose fault it was and is. They used immunosuppresant drugs without isolation nor so much as even alcohol-fabric doorhandles as precautions.
The entire episode and its horrific consequences do, however, highlight for me that inventions to reduce hospital infection are prone to be good and helpful things.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 07 2017, @02:43PM
If they didn't use existing safeguards, it doesn't sound like this hospital would use any new ones anyway...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 06 2017, @07:11PM
I
usually open doors with my foot, by either pushing with the stiff toe
of a boot or by stepping into the corner, pushing it open as I push my
foot down into it. This is of course assuming there is no engaged lock
or retention, but as TFS suggests, these are meant to be opened just by
pushing anyway.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 06 2017, @08:12PM
Alec Guinness / Ealing Studios movie: The Man In The White Suit [wikipedia.org]
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]