Silver has been used as an antimicrobial for thousands of years.
In recent decades, it has been used in a multitude of products to prevent microbe growth. It is frequently incorporated into dietary supplements, wound dressings/creams, as an antibiotic coating on medical devices, and in water treatment. It is often used as an alternative disinfectant.(1)
A zillion little specks of silver.
Colloidal silver is a product that contains microscopic particles of pure silver. You cannot see the nano particles with your bare eye, nor will it leave a sparkly residue on your skin (nor will it turn your skin blue.) Usually the particles are suspended in demineralized water or another liquid. This is the technique we use for our Silver Spray.
Due to the nano size, silver is ultra effective against bacteria
It is known that nano-based silver is more efficient in antimicrobial action due to its larger surface to volume ratio resulting in higher surface exposure to the microbes which leads to better antimicrobial activity. (2)
Silver vs. staph
Silver in nano-particle form (colloidal and ionic silver) has been shown to be effective against staph aureus (3) and a wide range of microbes and even fungus. (4) Ionic silver means the silver is a positively charged ion, making it target negatively charged bacteria.
Unlike alcohol, silver has a long-lasting effect Silver-based disinfectant has shown significant efficacy against antibiotic-resistant bacteria. In addition, the silver disinfectant was able to achieve significant residual activity after 10 minutes on a surface after multiple rinses. (5)
View product here.
Sources:
- Silvestry-Rodriguez N, Sicairos-Ruelas EE, Gerba CP, Bright KR. Silver as a disinfectant. Rev Environ Contam Toxicol. 2007;191:23-45. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-69163-3_2
- Deshmukh SP, Patil SM, Mullani SB, Delekar SD. Silver nanoparticles as an effective disinfectant: A review. Mater Sci Eng C Mater Biol Appl. 2019;97:954-965. doi:10.1016/j.msec.2018.12.102
- Tien, Der Chi, Kuo Hsiung Tseng, Chih Yu Liao, and Tsing Tshih
Tsung. 2009. “Identification and Quantification of Ionic Silver from
Colloidal Silver Prepared by Electric Spark Discharge System and Its
Antimicrobial Potency Study.” Journal of Alloys and Compounds 473(1–2): 298–302. - Siddiqi KS, Husen A, Rao RAK. A review on biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles and their biocidal properties. J Nanobiotechnology. 2018;16(1):14. Published 2018 Feb 16. doi:10.1186/s12951-018-0334-5
- Brady MJ, Lisay CM, Yurkovetskiy AV, Sawan SP. Persistent silver
disinfectant for the environmental control of pathogenic bacteria. Am J Infect Control. 2003;31(4):208-214. doi:10.1067/mic.2003.23
