Hospital bed rails, call buttons and chairs were found to carry more diseases than anywhere else, by a US government research team.

A clinical research group looking at the effectiveness of building materials against hospital superbugs in intensive care units presented their findings in Washington DC recently.

They found areas closest to the patients carried the highest levels of staphylococcus, methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE).

Hospital acquired infections (HAIs) can survive for a long period of time on these objects, the study discovered.

Independent studies have shown copper, brass and bronze are almost 100 per cent effective at killing deadly pathogens.

A UK study at University Hospital Birmingham has confirmed these results, showing a 90 to 95 per cent reduction rate in contamination on copper alloy surfaces.

Researchers are currently carrying out the second and third phases of the investigation, which was reported to the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in Washington DC.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates one in 20 Americans will contract a HAI during a stay in hospital, according to nurse education