A brief history of antimicrobial copper

That copper has beneficial effects in humans throughout history which is true for at least 4,000 years.

In ancient Egypt, copper was used to create drinking water containers and to apply powdered metal to wounds for disinfection. The Aztecs used it to treat skin diseases. Also, Hippocrates, the father of medicine (460 – 380 B.C.E) recommended the use of copper for sore legs related to enlarged veins. Additionally, in France, during the three cholera epidemics around 1850, the disease did not affect workers in copper foundries.

More recently, in 1970 the American College of Chest Physicians published on the ‘Antibacterial action of copper’. They showed that by using it in large reservoir nebulizers applied by respiratory therapy the contents remained sterile. More pertinently, in 1983, a hospital study in Pennsylvania showed copper’s effectiveness in lowering the E. coli count on brass door knobs.

 

a copper bracer preserved