The fungus Candida auris is leading to an exponential growth in outbreaks in America's nursing homes, but third party, independent testing reveals that an innovative material can eradicate even the most resistant strains
NORFOLK, Va., Aug. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Over the past decade, an emerging threat has affected America's 1.3 million nursing home residents: Candida auris, a fungus that causes dangerous, often fatal, bloodstream infections. From the first case in 2013, this fungus is now the cause of over 2,300 cases, with a mortality rate of 30-60%. i This high death rate is due in part its resistance to all first-line antifungal treatments as well as many treatments of last resort. Candida auris is also extremely difficult to eradicate from surfaces, where it can live (and reproduce) for many weeks, all the while releasing spores.ii Even after cleaning, surfaces become recontaminated after only 2 hours, long before the next cleaning takes place. iii
While nursing homes (and other healthcare facilities) are working hard and doing their best to keep the fungus at bay with traditional cleaning methods, those efforts are not making enough of a difference. This fungus is hardy, resistant, and requires only small exposures to lead to a life-threatening infection. There is an immediate need for an intervention that continuously and actively kills the fungus on surfaces, before it has a chance to be picked up by a hand or piece of equipment or reproduce and release spores.
Enter EOScu, a preventive biocidal surface. A novel copper-infused material, EOScu, looks and feels like the standard hard surface you'd find in any horizontal application (countertop), but has the unique and proven ability to kill Candida auris spores and colonies before they have a chance to grow or spread. Testing results show EOScu kills 99.992% of Candida auris colonies and spores in under 2 hours, a 5.25 Log reduction. Surfaces made from EOScu remain cleaner, and therefore safer, than any other surface surrounding a patient, without harmful chemicals, without requiring a room to be empty, and without additional work or training from staff.
The surface is made from a patented polymer embedded with cuprous oxide, an oxidized form of copper, suspended throughout the entire matrix. Not a spray or a treatment or a veneer, every particle of EOScu is able to kill Candida auris and has also been tested and proven to kill all gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria.
How does EOScu work? Copper, and even more so cuprous oxide, is a highly reactive element. This means that it can disrupt the fragile membrane of bacteria and fungal spores, rupturing them. Because the biocidal component is suspended throughout the entire EOScu matrix, its ability to actively kill pathogens persists for the life of the surface, without requiring any additional work on the part of nursing facility staff. It works in the background, 24/7/365, to maintain a lower bioburden (level of contamination) in areas surrounding patients and their families and caregivers. With this opportunity to reduce the risk of even just one infection by installing EOScu, healthcare facilities across the country are adding the Preventive|Biocidal Surfaces™ to their arsenal.
To learn more about EOScu's innovative surface, visit eoscu.com. Register for Health.Care|An Educational Blog at blog.eoscu.com/blog.
i https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8776351/
ii https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/candida-auris/c-auris-health-qa.html
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SOURCE EOS Surfaces, LLC
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