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The history of silver as a bacterial agent
Silver has been used to fight disease for thousands of years. The writings of the Greek philospher Heroditus date the use of silver to before the birth of Christ. In fact, history is littered with examples of silver used for hygiene:
- The ancient Greeks and the Romans used silver vessels to store water and other liquids to prevent spoilage.
- The early American settlers discovered that putting silver coins in their water bottles helped to keep the water clean and fresh.
- Silver leaf was used during world war I to combat infections in wounds.
- The use of silver is mentioned in ancient Egyptian writings.
- Chinese emporers ate with silver chopsticks.
- Settlers in the Australian outback used to suspend silverware in their water tanks to retard spoilage.
- Americans used to use silver dollars in milk to help keep it fresh for longer.
- In the 1800s surgeons began to use silver sutures in wounds with very successful results.
So, why did silver stop being used as an antibacterial?
The decline in popularity of silver began with the discovery of Penicillin by the Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming in 1928. During the 1930s a number of synthetically manufactured drugs began to make their appearance which were highly effective at killing bacteria and also inexpensive. At the time, there was no way to use silver to do the same job and bacteria had not yet evolved defences against these new 'wonder drugs'.
Silver is at the forefront of medicine again because nanotechnology enables us to use silver cheaply and cost effectively, but more importantly, bacteria appear not to have evolved defences against it as an antibacterial agent in many thousands of years. Therefore, it is very likely that unlike chemical antibiotics, they will not develop resistance.
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The difference between silver and silver nano