[FRIAM] You can stop gargling with pennies

[Tom Johnson]

https://www.nytimes.com/article/copper-coronavirus-masks.html

Copper Won’t Save You From Coronavirus

Pandemic fears have created interest in metallic products touting
antimicrobial properties. But experts have doubts about the copper craze.
[image: 3D-printed masks with a copper-lined filter in a workshop in
Santiago, Chile.]
3D-printed masks with a copper-lined filter in a workshop in Santiago,
Chile.Martin Bernetti/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

By Katherine J. Wu

   - June 19, 2020

It began in mid-March. Every time Michael D. L. Johnson checked his email,
the University of Arizona microbiologist would find a new batch of
messages, all asking the same question: Will products made with copper keep
the coronavirus at bay?

“I was getting three to four emails about it a day,” Dr. Johnson said. Some
asked if he recommended ingesting copper as a cure. Others wondered if it
was a good idea to outfit their homes with it. A few inquisitive citizens
even wanted to know whether wearing copper accessories, such as bracelets,
would stave off disease.

“It was kind of a wild ride,” Dr. Johnson said.

The flood of missives in his inbox eventually waned. But in many ways, the
Covid-19 copper craze has not. In recent months, there’s been a surge of
interest in materials laced with the metal, including socks, bedsheets and
coatings
<https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-copper-antimicrobi/copper-takes-aim-at-covid-19-with-virus-killer-coatings-idUSKBN22K0RX>
that
can be sprayed onto surfaces. Multiple
<https://atoms.com/products/everyday-face-mask> companies
<https://www.thefutonshop.com/copper-infused-organic-cotton-barrier-face-mask?sscid=61k4_gyckp>
are
marketing face coverings and masks with built-in copper linings, touting
their germ-killing properties. One company even offers a “nasal wand
<https://www.copperzap.com/faq/>” designed to apply “the touch of solid
copper” to the hands, face and nostrils at the first sign of illness.

But while copper does have antimicrobial qualities, Dr. Johnson and others
said you should think twice before buying into many of these products’
claims.
What copper might do to pathogens

People have been aware of copper’s sanitizing abilities at least as far
back as ancient Egypt, said Karrera Djoko, a biochemist and microbiologist
at Durham University in England.

“Even before we had a concept of what a germ is,” Dr. Djoko said, “we were
using copper to contain water” and keep it safe to drink.

Scientists today know the mighty metal as a swift slayer of microbes,
capable of limiting the spread of E. coli, salmonella, influenza virus and
more. In certain settings, it may stifle the coronavirus, too. In a study
<https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2004973> in the New England
Journal of Medicine, researchers reported that, under controlled laboratory
conditions, the coronavirus couldn’t last more than a few hours on copper
surfaces, compared with a couple days on stainless steel or plastic.
(Though scientists don’t think surfaces
<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/29/health/coronavirus-transmission-dose.html>
are
the main way the virus spreads between people.)

For humans, copper is an essential nutrient, which you easily get enough of
in a typical diet. But Dr. Djoko said many microbes don’t take to copper so
kindly. When copper physically contacts a germ like coronavirus, it can
release reactive ions that pummel and puncture the bug’s exterior. That
gives the ions access to the microbe’s innards, where they wreak similar
havoc on its genetic material.
[image: Joanna Jablonska, left, and Szymon Caluch, scientists at the Jacob
of Paradies University in Gorzow Wielkopolski, Poland, working with
colloidal silver and copper to make a disinfectant.]
Joanna Jablonska, left, and Szymon Caluch, scientists at the Jacob of
Paradies University in Gorzow Wielkopolski, Poland, working with colloidal
silver and copper to make a disinfectant.Lech Muszynski/EPA, via
Shutterstock

Copper can be calamitous for microbes in other ways as well, Dr. Johnson
said. Metal ions, like iron or zinc, are found in about 40 percent of
proteins with known structures
<https://www.jbc.org/content/291/40/20838.full>, and most likely play
essential roles in their function. But in a vicious game of musical chairs,
copper that finds its way into a cell or a virus can swoop in and displace
other metals, impairing or even destroying the proteins it commandeers.

“If 40 percent of your proteins don’t work, you don’t work,” Dr. Johnson
said. Copper may even be capable of jamming up proteins that typically run
metal-free by simply glomming onto their surfaces.

Even our own immune systems
<https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4521016/> appear to exploit
copper’s protective perks. Some evidence suggests that immune cells like
macrophages — which gobble up and destroy bacteria, viruses and other
microbes — may be capable of engulfing and sequestering germs in an acidic
“ball of death” chamber that’s then spiked with lethal doses of copper, Dr.
Johnson said. “Our bodies have been using this for warfare” long before
copper masks hit the market, he added.

But it remains to be seen which of these scenarios will play out with the
coronavirus, and to what extent. Dr. Johnson is one of several scientists
currently on the case, tinkering with copper to suss out exactly how it
exerts its apparently potent effects on this dangerous germ.
Steer clear of the copper nose picker

What works well in the lab, however, won’t necessarily pass muster in the
real world. Both Dr. Johnson and Dr. Djoko have held off on recommending
copper-infused accessories, including face coverings and masks, to their
friends, family and colleagues as a way to reduce transmission. (Overingesting
copper <https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Copper-HealthProfessional/> is
also a bad idea, and probably wouldn’t do much to boost immunity, Dr.
Johnson said. And Dr. Djoko isn’t keen on the idea of sticking copper wands
up your nose.)

Loosefitting face coverings, like cloth or surgical masks, aren’t air tight
and don’t make the wearer impervious to infection
<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/well/live/coronavirus-face-mask-mistakes.html?searchResultPosition=8>.
But if the wearer is infected, masks can do a great deal to protect others
from virus-laden droplets spewed by coughs, sneezes and speech. A 2010 study
<https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0011295>
found
that the metal-laced accessories could curb the amount of active influenza
virus lingering on contaminated masks. (The analysis was conducted by Cupron
Scientific <https://cupron.com/>, one of several companies now selling
copper-lined face coverings.)

If copper face coverings also curtail the coronavirus, that could come in
handy for people who mishandle their masks, said Linsey Marr, an aerosol
scientist at Virginia Tech. A hefty dose of copper could diminish the
chances of viable virus making it into the eyes, nose or mouth via a
wayward hand that’s touched the front of a mask.

Still, not all metal-infused masks are created equal. Manufacturers would
need to design them with enough copper — ideally near the product’s surface
— to actually do the job.

“If your mask is only 1 percent copper, that means it’s 99 percent not
copper,” Dr. Djoko said. If the metal and microbe don’t physically meet,
the mask “won’t confer any more benefit than just regular masks.”

Durability could also be an issue, especially if copper masks are getting
repeatedly washed or disinfected. Many common household cleaners are formulated
with
<https://www.safehouseholdcleaning.com/what-are-chelating-agents/#:~:text=Summary,phosphonates%20banned%20in%20most%20countries.>
compounds
that could strip copper ions off a protective surface, Dr. Djoko said.

Still, copper may yet have a role to play in the pandemic. Installing
copper-based surfaces in hospitals has been shown to cut down
<https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6317222/> on transmission
rates <https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26163568/> of certain pathogens
<https://www.ajicjournal.org/article/S0196-6553(16)30338-8/pdf>, including
antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. Dr. Djoko thinks it could keep
coronavirus in check in such settings, too.

But all experts emphasize that having the metal around doesn’t let anyone
off the hygiene hook. Copper on its own is no cure-all — and its effects
aren’t instantaneous. It takes about 45 minutes
<https://www.nejm.org/doi/suppl/10.1056/NEJMc2004973/suppl_file/nejmc2004973_appendix.pdf>
for
copper to reduce the amount of virus on a surface by half.

“It’s not like it hits the copper and poof, it’s gone,” said Dr. Marr. So
you might want to keep that in mind before you buy a copper or brass tool
for using touch screens and opening doors
<https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/brass-touch-tool-instagram/>. To
minimize transmission risk, people should still wash their hands, avoid
crowds and maintain a safe distance from one another.

More copper-containing accouterments — coronavirus-related or not — may yet
be headed our way. Dr. Johnson has nothing against that.

“Copper is a fantastic fashion choice,” he said. “You’re going to look
fabulous. It just might not work the way you think.”

============================================
Tom Johnson - tom at jtjohnson.com
Institute for Analytic Journalism   --     Santa Fe, NM USA
505.577.6482(c)                                    505.473.9646(h)
*NM Foundation for Open Government* <http://nmfog.org>
*Check out It's The People's Data
<https://www.facebook.com/pages/Its-The-Peoples-Data/1599854626919671>*

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