Silver improves the efficacy of antibiotics.

[Rainforestgoddess]

Like werewolves and vampires, bacteria have a weakness: silver. The precious metal has been used to fight infection for thousands of years — Hippocrates first described its antimicrobial properties in 400 bc — but how it works has been a mystery. Now, a team led by James Collins, a biomedical engineer at Boston University in Massachusetts, has described how silver can disrupt bacteria, and shown that the ancient treatment could help to deal with the thoroughly modern scourge of antibiotic resistance. The work is published today in Science Translational Medicine.

“Resistance is growing, while the number of new antibiotics in development is dropping,” says Collins. “We wanted to find a way to make what we have work better.”

Collins and his team found that silver — in the form of dissolved ions — attacks bacterial cells in two main ways: it makes the cell membrane more permeable, and it interferes with the cell’s metabolism, leading to the overproduction of reactive, and often toxic, oxygen compounds. Both mechanisms could potentially be harnessed to make today’s antibiotics more effective against resistant bacteria, Collins says.

Resistance is futile
Many antibiotics are thought to kill their targets by producing reactive oxygen compounds, and Collins and his team showed that when boosted with a small amount of silver these drugs could kill between 10 and 1,000 times as many bacteria. The increased membrane permeability also allows more antibiotics to enter the bacterial cells, which may overwhelm the resistance mechanisms that rely on shuttling the drug back out.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=silver-makes-antibiotics-thousands-of-times-more-effective

[Warpy]

1. Great discovery!

It's likely bought us another few decades of winning against the microbes.

[Rainforestgoddess]

9. I hope so!

The war against microbes is looking a bit dodgy some days. :/

[JoeyT]

2. Copper has many of the same properties.

Though it won't be used in anti-biotics. It's being used in fixtures in some hospitals because it inhibits antibiotic resistant bacterial growth on its surface.

Weird that things that scary can be at the very least hindered by stuff we've had around all this time.

[arikara]

3. Using silver for antibiotic is not new.

Colloidal silver has been in use for decades. It lost favour because it can't be patented and sold at high prices unlike modern antibiotics. In spite of the blue man hype which is only manufactured bullshit, correctly made cs is harmless to everything except bacteria which can't build up a resistance to it. I've been making it myself for years and we use it externally, internally, for cleaning and even for things like keeping milk fresh well past its best before date.

[lastlib]

5. a company my brother worked for made a burn cream with colloidal silver.....

best stuff on the market for burns. But expensive.

[formercia]

7. Overpriced is more like it.

An ounce of Silver may seem expensive, but a little goes a long way.

[Rainforestgoddess]

10. My husband is a veterinarian

and he uses a silver/sulfa drug ointment for burns. It works really well.

[formercia]

6. Silver will also kill parasites like Mites, by killing the bacteria in their gut.

Got a case of Crotch Crickets? Colloidal Silver may be the answer.

Colloidal Silver also works well for Scalp issues.

I don't agree with people that drink it, as it is a Heavy Metal.

A capfull in your Wash will help keep your clothing smelling fresh. The Japanese make Washing Machines that automatically dispense Silver into your Wash.

It only takes a few Parts per Million to be effective.

[JimDandy]

4. Right when we needed it.

Old thing is new again.

[mckara]

8. That's Why Hospitals and Public Buildings Have used Brass for Doorknobs, Handrails, Etc.

For more than 100 years. Most precious metals are natural antibiotics.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

11. Got a cold? A sore throat? Put a silver spoon in your mouth. That's been known for centuries.