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History Of Colloidal Silver

Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, wrote that silver had beneficial healing and anti-disease properties, and the Phoenicians used silver bottles to store water, wine, and vinegar to prevent spoiling years before germ theory had been thought of.

In the early 1900s people would put silver dollars in milk bottles to prolong the milk's freshness. Its germicidal effects increase its value in utensils and as jewellery. The exact process of silver's germicidal effect is still not well understood, although many theories exist.

Silver compounds were used to prevent infection in World War I before the arrival of antibiotics. Silver nitrate solution was a standard of care but was largely replaced by silver sulfadiazine cream (SSD Cream), which became standard treatment for the antibacterial and antibiotic treatment of serious burns until the late 1990s.

Now, other options, such as silver-coated dressings (activated silver dressings), are used in addition to SSD cream.

The widespread use of silver went out of fashion with the development of modern antibiotics. However, recently there has been renewed interest in silver as a broad-spectrum antimicrobial.

A few modern practical applications include;

1. Samsung has introduced washing machines with a final rinse containing silver ions to provide several days of antibacterial protection in the clothes.

2. Kohler has introduced a line of toilet seats that have silver ions embedded to kill germs.

3. A company called Thomson Research Associates has begun treating products with Ultra Fresh, an anti-microbial technology involving "proprietary nano-technology to produce the ultra-fine silver particles essential to ease of application and long-term protection."

4 Katadyn have developed a silver tablet for treating drinking water called Micropur.

5. The World Health Organisation have also published a report listing Silver as an effective way of treating water in Developing countries.

6. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently approved an endotracheal breathing tube with a fine coat of silver for use in mechanical ventilation, after studies found it reduced the risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia.