Silver destroys over 650 pathogenic strains of bacteria, viruses, fungi and mold. . Silver particles do not attack microorganisms directly. They work like a catalyst and are not consumed in this process. They work by deactivating the enzyme that unicellular bacteria, viruses and fungi use in aerobic metabolism. And probably because of this indirect process, bacteria are unable to develop resistance to silver particles. As a result of this process, these harmful microorganisms die within 6 minutes. So far, no pathogenic microorganisms have been found to become resistant to its effects.
Silver effective for centuries
The anti-bacterial properties of silver were used in ancient times. Drinking from silver cups or throwing a silver coin into milk or water prolonged the durability and freshness of liquids. However, during the 14th-century plague epidemic in Europe, rich parents gave their children silver lugs to suck as a way of the disease. In the nineteenth century in Germany, it was discovered that a mild silver solution has a disinfecting effect on eye inflammation while not irritating the mucosa.
Silver has been used for various purposes already 4,000 BC. In Persia, water was kept in silver vessels, and the Greek and Babylonian civilizations fully knew the disinfecting properties of silver. Similarly, the Romans used silver for medical purposes. In the Middle Ages, silver was used to treat open wounds, and in Ayurvedic medicine, which has a tradition dating back several thousand years, silver is still used today. Before the fridge was invented, silverware or silver coins were used to prevent drinking water or milk from spoiling.
Monarchs and members of the noble families ate on silver sets, in this way various plagues that decimated Europe "bypassed" the ruling elite, because silver was getting in negligible amounts at each meal to their organisms and thus effectively defended against pathogenic organisms and they also strengthened their immune system.
In the USSR, after the end of World War II, biological weapons were developed, also containing anthrax rods, plagues and other microbes as a charge to create a defensive shield as well as an offensive weapon. At that time, in Czechoslovakia, a preparation with an extremely powerful action against biological weapons called Movidyn was created. Movidin was a powdered form of silver, no smell, no taste, and showed a biocidal effect at a concentration of 1 per billion. Its effectiveness was studied in infected wells where it completely destroyed the germs of typhus, malaria, cholera and dysentery. Drinking water tanks washed with Movadyn maintained their biocidal properties for several weeks. To the surprise of the Soviet authorities, Movidyn also disinfected germs in the Soviet biological weapons arsenal, even the latest types of poisons, among others. for this reason, the Movadyn factory in the Czech Republic was dismantled and transported to the Soviet Union.
In March 1978, the journal Science Digest featured an article titled "Silver The Most Powerful Weapon Against Germs", which reported that more than half of the world's airlines (including British Airway, Lufthansa and Air France) use silver water filters as a method of protecting passengers against pathogenic germs found in water. After testing 23 different water purification systems, NASA installed a filtration system in their shuttles based on silver.
In Japan, silver is widely used in air purification devices. Before 1938, silver was used orally, rectally, vaginally and intravenously as well as externally as rinses, eye drops, irrigation, in the treatment of open wounds and in burns.
Silver was in widespread use until 1938 and showed effectiveness in combating about 650 different diseases, but before 1938 its production was very expensive. Today, thanks to advanced technology, silver with even greater efficiency is produced.
Silver has the ability to bind to thiol groups, which inhibits bacterial respiration, damages cell replication by binding to bacterial DNA. In contact with a virus, fungus, bacterium or any single-cell pathogen, colloidal silver acts as a catalyst by inhibiting the action of enzymes that allow single-cell organisms to breathe. As a result, within a few minutes these organisms die. Some people attribute the antibacterial effect of silver to the oligodynamic effect, which consists in the fact that low concentrations of some metal ions are toxic to unicellular organisms.
Bacteria cannot become resistant to silver. In addition, silver has a broad antibacterial spectrum.
In Ayurvedic India's medicine, silver is prescribed to build up the strength and vitality of the body. Ayurvedic doctors have used the healing properties of metals from thousands of years to cleanse and strengthen the body. Ayurweda claims that pure metals applied to the skin cause an electromagnetic reaction, acting on cells and deeper tissues.
It is also worth adding that Russians and Americans use silver-based water purification systems on their space shuttles, some pool owners purify water with silver, because unlike chlorine it does not irritate eyes and skin, Japanese companies use colloidal silver to remove harmful cyanide oxide and nitrogen from air.