We’ve known how to combat this for a while: http://theconversation.com/copper-is-great-at-killing-superb...
Copper on the surface of hospital furniture should help a lot.
Copper on the surface of hospital furniture should help a lot.
As it turns out we’ve only mined 12% of known copper reserves and once mined copper stays in circulation almost indefinitely because of it’s very high recycle rate.
Can we extract this wealth of materials cost effectively while respecting the ecosystems adjacent to them? What would a high-tech mine look like?
$2.75 is what, equal to maybe 2 mins of the average doctor's hourly salary?
This latter property is important as it means that no mutation can occur – preventing the microbe from developing resistance to copper."
I mean, think about the entire history of medicine, and science in general: how many times have we underestimated nature? Can we actually claim that nature can’t, under any conditions, evolve copper resistance?
I am a layman when it comes to biology, so I have no idea. But I’ve seen enough handwavey results in other fields where alarms are going off when I read that. Perhaps the skepticism is unjustified though.
Resistance doesn't happen because the anti bacterial agent provokes mutations.
The process is that mutations happen all the time, and those that result in slightly higher survival rates over time dominates the population.
The mutation is a pre-existing condition that is selected for when everyone else dies or has a bad day, and you can now fill the empty space.
> [...] copper and its alloys exhibit these impressive properties and the processes involved. The process involves the release of copper ions (electrically charged particles) when microbes, transferred by touching, sneezing or vomiting, land on the copper surface. The ions prevent cell respiration, punch holes in the bacterial cell membrane or disrupt the viral coat, and destroy the DNA and RNA inside.
> This latter property is important as it means that no mutation can occur – preventing the microbe from developing resistance to copper.
I always understood that the mutation happened at copy time/mitosis.
Copper may well be impossible to develop a resistance against, but it’s not due to the mechanism above. All anti-microbials also destroy their enemy cells, but for some, it’s possible for a random mutation in the population to provide resistance to the antiseptic.
So the question is: is copper like alcohol and fire? Or is it like antibiotics and other more “nuanced” antiseptics?
Similarly, if plants can evolve to tolerate extreme salt concentrations, it should be possible for bacteria to evolve copper resistance.
They spread through the population by being copied when their host reproduces, but they don't have to happen then.
I am extremely sceptical of that statement.
Edit: google for <mutation copper resistance> shows papers that might be relevant arguments that support my skepticism.
In context we are talking about microbes that are developing unbelievable resistance to high concentrations of alcohol: “The alcohols essentially shred the microbes' outer membranes, causing molecular mayhem and the germs’ innards to leak out. In high concentrations, the alcohols are quickly fatal.”
So I wouldn't worry too much. The worst outcome is likely to be hand-washing becoming a somewhat larger nuisance, a higher risk of skin irritation or some combination therefore. The whole procedure is probably ripe for some purely mechanical innovation such as high(ish) pressure water or air, considering that part hasn't much changed in the last 200 years (although training and frequency have increased)
Skin irration is a form of abrasion, which allow bacteria to both hide and feed. Potentially creating a bigger problem.
We (today) might have reservations about calling the new humans "humans", though.
https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/presspacs/2018/...