NORFOLK, Va. — 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%.

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. Even after cleaning, surfaces become recontaminated after only 2 hours, long before the next cleaning takes place. 

A new novel copper-infused material, EOScu, has been devoloped by EOS Surfaces, LLC, looks and feels like the standard hard surface used countertop, but has the ability to kill Candida auris spores and colonies before they have a chance to grow or spread.

According to EOS Surfaces, 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 polymer embedded with cuprous oxide, an oxidized form of copper, suspended throughout the entire matrix. EOScu is able to kill Candida auris and has also been tested and proven to kill all gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria.

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.