Chilean Product Fights Fungus

Copper has been used since biblical times to produce tools, pipes, and weapons. Now, Chile, copper's largest producer is experimenting with new ways to employ the red metal, which is used in the main for construction and auto-making. Researchers hope that the fungus and bacteria-battling qualities of copper might be utilized in a variety of products.

Antifungal Qualities

Chile's state-owned Codelco is the largest producer of copper in the world. "Public transport systems, where germs can be transmitted and there are large numbers of people, is a potential market for applications for surface-metal copper," says Jurgen Leibbrandt, head of Codelco's market development. "In clothes there is another venue...where it has excellent anti-fungus qualities," said Leibbrandt.

Copper Socks

Codelco, in tandem with various private enterprises is looking into incorporating copper into such varied items as socks, linens, towels, and underwear, which could have copper fibers woven into fabric to help fight off fungi and prevent teenage acne. Socks with interwoven copper fibers, for instance, could prevent toenail fungus, a major concern for many including seniors and athletes.

Another private market interested in joining forces with chile's major copper export market is the salmon industry, another large Chilean export, in an effort to reduce the incidence of disease in salmon.

Chile's salmon industry is second only to Norway, but the industry has incurred exorbitant costs in recent years due to the necessity of employing costly tactics for keeping infection of the fish stocks at bay. Leibbrandt believes that a combined venture for these two industries is certain to create a win-win situation in which both can save on costs and make more money.

Wipe Out

Copper manufacturers state that copper has properties that destroy bacteria and cut the risk of infections. Joaquin Ruiz, a Chilean entrepreneur has invented Metal Foam sponge filters which can purify the water systems used in salmon farming to help wipe out disease and fungi. He believes that the use of his special filters will eliminate the need for the expensive antibiotics in current use on salmon farms. "That means huge savings. Instead of using large quantities of antibiotics and germ killing agents, with this you are just putting up a simple sanitary barrier," said Ruiz.

Now, Codelco is running a trial on cages made of copper for the salmon industry, and hopes that these might reduce the incidence of disease in salmon even farther.

Hard-to-treat Infection

Meantime, medical researchers are looking into how they might use the metal to reduce the number of hospital induced infections. So far, the results are promising. Researchers have seen that the metal can kill Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), the bacterium that causes this hard-to-treat infection in human beings. "If you prevent one MRSA infection, you save $21,000, so your return on investment will be very very short, perhaps one patient," said University of South Carolina medical school's Michael Schmidt. "So this is going to be a fairly efficient and inexpensive solution to combat infections."