Colloidal silver

IE497BSpring 2009

Dr. R. A. Wysk

Colloidal Silver

– Colloidal silver is a colloid of silver particles in water. It has antimicrobial properties and was, in the past, used on external wounds and burns to prevent infection. Some claim that it is a beneficial nutritional supplement and a powerful antibiotic[1], although this is disputed[2]. As with many of the claims made for this product, there is no scientific proof of its efficacy as a treatment for illnesses such as anthrax following bio-terror alerts.[citation needed] The ingestion of colloidal silver in large quantities or over a long period of time carries a high risk of argyria, a condition in which the skin turns permanently blue-gray[3][4][5][6].

Colloidal Silver – properties

• Colloidal silver can be used to keep drinkable water potable over a long period. [1] It is also used externally for health benefits.

• Silver has been used as a topical antiseptic for minor burns for more than 100 years [7]. High concentrations of colloidal silver kill bacteria and the topical, or external, use of colloidal silver to kill microbes is well established. Though colloidal silver was a prescribed treatment in the U.S. Navy's corpsman's manual until 1973, the use of colloidal silver was discontinued due to the rare but serious risk of argyria, a non-reversible condition. For this reason and others—the extraordinarily broad claims made for the product—its use as an ingested medication remains controversial.

So what• Colloidal silver is toxic. Oral LD50 values for mice reported for colloidal silver are 100

mg/kg.[8]• Continued ingestion of high doses (more than 1 gram of accumulated silver, or 5 mg

per day) of colloidal silver may result in argyria, a rare condition causing a permanent discoloration of the skin.[3][4][5]

• Argyria is not a serious or fatal condition.[9] While the skin discoloration may be confused for other conditions, there are no physiologic implications for the patient.[10]

• Almost all known cases of argyria resulted from exposure to or use of silver oxide or silver nitrate.[citation needed] One of the few confirmed cases of argyria caused by colloidal silver is that of Stan Jones, a Montana Libertarian candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2002 and 2006, who overdosed on colloidal silver. Mr. Jones' colloidal silver was a home-prepared solution which he began taking in 1999 due to fears of antibiotics being unavailable due to "Y2K" bug problems.[6]

• Advocates of colloidal silver claim it to be a useful supplement to their diet, providing them with improved health and well being and (among other things) a low incidence of colds and flu.[citation needed] They also assert that, under careful use (one teaspoon of 5ppm concentrate every 1 to 3 days) of properly produced (5parts per million) colloidal silver, argyria is virtually impossible. [11] These claims are anecdotal, and have not been confirmed by scientific study.

Making Colloidal silver

• Colloidal Silver (CS) is generally produced by an electrolysis process.  The making of colloidal silver requires 2 silver electrodes to be placed in a glass container of water and the appropriate electric current applied. The vast majority of CS generators being offered today use batteries in a series wired arrangement which supply DC voltage and current. With battery voltage potential applied, the water acts as a conductive medium as tiny particles of silver sinter off one of the silver electrodes and go into the water. Ideally, the silver particles should remain suspended in the water as a colloid solution due to the positive electric charge on each silver particle which allows the particles to repel each other and remain suspended.

A Colloidal silver generator

Argyria

Commercial Developments

• Nanover

• Nanohorizons

Bactericidal action of Silver

• Silver interferes with the metabolisms of bacteria.

• Active oxygen made by silver destroys membranes of bacteria

• Silver causes mutation of bacteria by combining with particular parts of proteins

Functions of Silver

• Bactericidal rate : over 93.9 %

• Bacteriostatic rate : over 99.9 %

• Deodorization rate : over 95 %

Red blood cells before and after wearing “On Silver-underwear” :

Massed red blood cells get scattered and clarified (immune bodies are increased)

Applications and Trends

• Trends : the beginning of the silver-bactericidal market has been passed and its applications are being disseminated.

• Applications of NANOVERTM

- special fields : cell phone, health care, cosmetics

- fiber industry : Daewoo international Inc., fiber post processing companies, etc.

- paper manufacturer : Shinho Inc., Shinmoolim Inc., etc.

- film: Kuemyang Chemical Inc.

- resin (M/B chip): Songwon Chemical Inc., SK-UCB Inc., Woori Comtech Inc., etc.

- bactericidal rubber glove : Cleanwarp Inc.

- Paints : Byouksan Inc.

- ETC. : stones(charnel houses), wallpapers, etc.

SK Teletech(CEO Y.J. Kim, www.skteletech.com) is the first handset maker in the world to launch silver-nano coated mobile phones with sterilizing function, the company announced on 5th.

‘Silver-nano coating‘ technology is to coat materials with nanometer (1 billionth of a meter) sized silver particles that are effective at attacking pathogens. Its applications are home appliances such as TV sets, laundry machines, vacuum cleaners, etc.

The company’s new model IM-7400 is a semi-automatic slide phone which has a rotating 1.1-megapixel CCD camera, 100MB internal memory, MP3, radio, GPS, etc.

A person concerned with SK Teletech said, “ after it is announced that a cell phone contains about 25,000 bacteria, the customers’ need for bactericidal cell phone gets higher” and “ we will provide silver-nano coated mobile phone for all models, so that we will let our customers have a good image for our company that provides ‘well-being phones’

S.J. Park@The Electric Times, sjpark@etnews.co.kr besides, reported in Korea Economic Daily, The Hankyoreh, etc.

SK Teletech launches silver-nano coated well-being cell phones.

LG-LP5200 LGTSKTT- SKY IM-7400

NANOVER TM application to Mobile phones

Bactericidal function of NANOVERTM

• sterilizing within a few minutes

• much lower MIC (MIC; minimal inhibitory concentration)

: lower than 10 PPM for most germs including Esherichia coli (O157), Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213, Salmonella, MRSA, etc

• great bactericidal function in applications for fibers and plastics

• maintaining its bactericidal function after 20 times washing

Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of NANOVERTM

Strong antimicrobial efficacy

Microbe (bacteria) Characteristics MIC (g/mL)

E-coli pollution of foods and drinks 10

ATCC 25922 main reason of food poisoning and enteritis

E-coli food poisoning by producing velo toxin 10

O157

Staphylococcus Aureus infections including food poisoning 10

ATCC 29213 vomiting, diarrhea

Salmonella Typhimurium causing typhoid fever 10

stomachache, vomiting, fever,

headache, general paralysis

MRSA causing secondary infection 10

Catholic Medical School, the 54th Fall the Korean Association of Internal Medicine Conference proceedings, Oct 25, 2003Test method: Agar-dilution method defined by NCCLS

blank (bactericidal rate : 99.9%)

Method : KS K 0693 test for measuring bactericidal rate of textile

Specimen : SCV-WA702 (10 ppm) ; dipping textile in the solution for 30 minutes

Used auxotroph : Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538

Bactericidal rate of textile

NanoHorizons – State College, PA

• NanoHorizons is a custom nanoscale materials engineering company. The company's SmartSilver™ brand is recognized worldwide as a leader in providing anti-odor/antimicrobial protection to natural and synthetic fibers and fabrics. SmartSilver additives, along with NanoHorizons' other technologies, solve real-world challenges through nanoscale engineering, in industries ranging from performance apparel to medical instrumentation.

SmartSilver

• Figure 2: SmartSilver-enhanced polyester fiber is virtually indistinguishable from regular polyester fiber.

A single SmartSilvernanoparticle.

Silver-coated nylon fiber shows signs of flaking in the left image. The rough and flaky surface in the right image shows how the silvercoating could easily come off.

To use colloidal silver or not to use colloidal silver

IE497

Biomed