Hospitals have almost unanimously instituted the use of stainless steel for touch surfaces such as doorknobs, IV poles, push plates, faucets, and hand rails, etc. It turns out that stainless steel and other iron-based alloys may be among the worst material to use because bacteria, fungus and viruses have been found to survive up to 30 days or more on such surfaces.
Copper and copper-bases alloys such as bronze and brass are known to be antimicrobial and can kill bacteria, fungus, and viruses within 2 hours or less. Clinical trials using copper demonstrate over 90% reduction in bacterial colonization on surfaces compared to controls. A 2013 multi-center US study demonstrated a 58% reduction in ICU infections after installing copper surfaces.
Studies show that silver is a bit more antimicrobial than copper but it is also much more expensive. Copper has also been demonstrated to be hypoallergenic unlike nickel.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/670207
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/23571364/
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