Copper, silver ions and brass have an innate ability to kill bacteria. For silver, bacteria is killed by the ion breaking their cell membrane and destroying the DNA so the cell becomes incapable to do the basic function to survive. Copper works similar to silver by breaking the cell membrane. Copper kills 99.9% of bacteria on it with in 2 hours, and works after repeated exposure. Brass work the same as copper and most of copper’s alloys.
This is manly important to civil engineers or for home designer, due to the its ability to kill antibiotic resistance bacteria. So if handle and door nobs are cover in these materials then people would be less likely to become sick when they go to public events. This property is also being used in nanobot to remove deadly pathogens out of water for human consumption.
http://www.tested.com/science/life/453961-oligodynamic-effect-how-some-metals-kill-bacteria/
