Anuario Brasileiro do Cobre | Brazilian Copper Yearbook 2018

Anuário Brasileiro do Cobre Brazilian Copper Yearbook 2018 49 health centers in the world where studies would be carried out to determine the efficiency of copper in the reduction of these infections. The first place intervened with copper, or copper alloys, was an intensive care room that was conditioned with protection bars and bed handles, the cover of the patients´ tables, the stand for serum and the arm rest of the visitors´ chairs. Furthermore, copper blades were applied in frequently contacted surfaces to start the measurements. In this test, the elimination of golden staphylococci, resistant to methicillin, the main protagonist of hospital- acquired infections in the last four decades and nowadays resistant to themajority of available antibiotics. Its bacterial load was reduced by 98.5% in the beds’ protection bars and by 94.4% in patients´ tables. Antimicrobial copper reduced the number of hospital-acquired infections Public Emergency Assistance Hospital - Founded in 1911 with the name of “Posta central” in order to provide first medical care to injured persons by accidents to, in following, be translated to other centers, after controlling the emergence. Nowadays, 107 years later, it´s the only emergence center of the country; besides that, it´s the center that provides attention to complex emergences. In 2012, it assisted a total of 87,038 cases from Santiago and 1,038 from other regions. The copper´s intervention in this hospital was done by parts. At first, they intervened in the burn unit because it is the area that has the bigger risk of hospital-acquired infections. This action served to identify the exact concentration of copper that would provide the standard that should be applied in all public health areas. The success of this operation, beyond the results on the alloys’ investigation, is the decrease of 15% in infection cases. In this phase, the total Project considered the intervention on 318 elementary objects that have the most contact with the patients in 70 bedroom units, such as protection bars, the serum stand, the regulation lever, sinks, lampshades, feed table, knobs and door handles. Roberto del Río Children’s Hospital - It´s the oldest pediatric center in Chile, already in operation for 115 years. In 2011, it attended a total of 210 thousands patients from the north zone of Santiago and from Antofagasta and Coquimbo regions. Besides that, it is a national reference center for high complexity diseases, and that´s the reason why it is in the clinical and technical vanguard in various specialties. The intervention took place in the Unit of Critical Patients that counts with 12 rooms and 4 boxes for emergency patients or isolation. In the first phase,were intervened in the sinks, beds’ protection bars, nurses’ tables, the serum stand of 6 rooms and 2 boxes of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), where a microbiology study was started to research and determine the influence of bactericidal copper in the decrease of nosocomial diseases. Such analysis will allow to scientifically determinate the contribution of copper’s surfaces to infections’ mitigation. The project involves regular measurements of the quantity of bacteria present in high contact surfaces around the patients, carried out by the Institution of Biomedical Sciences of the University of Chile Medical School. The antimicrobial copper prevents the school absenteeism Educational centers | José Toribio Medina de Ñuñoa School - This school is located at Ñuñoa and started activities in 1912. After the finding in 2011, by the Red Cross, that the existence of large quantities of germs in the school tables’ surfaces was the cause of students’ absenteeism, they decided to participate in the investigation project. It was the first study about the impact of the use of school furniture incorporating antimicrobial elements. For the experiment, tables were disposed with copper surfaces along with usual tables of that primary room. After two weeks, the analyses done by the Institution of Nutrition and Food Technology of Chile (INTA) to determine the contamination degree obtained very positives results that highlighted the absence of pathogenic microorganisms on copper surfaces, which determined that the use of this noble metal reduces the risk of microbial contamination. Pintacuentos Kindergarten - This educational center, situated within the community of Las Condes, receives kids from 2 to be 4 years old. Its