title: Reduction of health care-associated infection indicators by copper oxide-impregnated textiles: Crossover, double-blind controlled study in chronic ventilator-dependent patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Copper oxide has potent wide-spectrum biocidal properties. The purpose of this study is to determine if replacing hospital textiles with copper oxide-impregnated textiles reduces the following health care-associated infection (HAI) indicators: antibiotic treatment initiation events (ATIEs), fever days, and antibiotic usage in hospitalized chronic ventilator-dependent patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 7-month, crossover, double-blind controlled trial including all patients in 2 ventilator-dependent wards in a long-term care hospital. For 3 months (period 1), one ward received copper oxide-impregnated textiles and the other received untreated textiles. After a 1-month washout period of using regular textiles, for 3 months (period 2) the ward that received the treated textiles received the control textiles and vice versa. The personnel were blinded to which were treated or control textiles. There were no differences in infection control measures during the study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were reductions of 29.3% (P = .002), 55.5% (P < .0001), 23.0% (P < .0001), and 27.5% (P < .0001) in the ATIEs, fever days (>37.6°C), days of antibiotic treatment, and antibiotic defined daily dose per 1,000 hospitalization days, respectively, when using the copper oxide-impregnated textiles.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Use of copper oxide-impregnated biocidal textiles in a long-term care ward of ventilator-dependent patients was associated with a significant reduction of HAI indicators and antibiotic utilization. Using copper oxide-impregnated biocidal textiles may be an important measure aimed at reducing HAIs in long-term care medical settings.
authors.affiliation: Chronic Ventilator-Dependent Division, Herzog Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel. Electronic address: elm@zahav.net.il.
authors.forename: Esther-Lee
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Marcus
authors.affiliation: Infection Control Unit, Herzog Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Hana
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yosef
authors.affiliation: Cupron Inc, Herzelia, Israel.
authors.forename: Gadi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Borkow
authors.affiliation: Chronic Ventilator-Dependent Division, Herzog Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Yehezkel
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Caine
authors.affiliation: Chronic Ventilator-Dependent Division, Herzog Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Ady
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sasson
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Hadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Allon E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Moses
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003300:Copper / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004363:Drug Utilization; D005260:Female; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010087:Oxides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D053717:Pneumonia, Ventilator-Associated / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013784:Textiles / Q000382:microbiology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D010087:Oxides; D003300:Copper
keywords: Antimicrobial therapy; Clinical trial; Fever; Long-term care facility; Mechanical ventilation; Medical textiles