Comment by wahern

Steel is one of the worst surfaces when it comes to harboring pathogens. AFAIU silver and copper are the best. Brass and bronze come in a distant 2nd (in absolute terms) but still significantly better than steel, where pathogens linger subject only to the external environment. See, e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligodynamic_effect and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimicrobial_properties_of_co... and http://www.academicjournals.org/article/article1380626432_Va...

I wish hospitals, airports, and other shared spaces would use brass hardware or other alternatives rather than steel, particularly on door knobs and other highly trafficked surfaces. I always wondered if there'd be a market for selling such biocidal and viricidal hardware, either passive hardware using special alloys or surfaces (e.g. untreated wood performs well by locking pathogens in pores so they don't transfer readily); or active hardware that, e.g., ran a small current across the surface.