And now its silver that is finding wholly new uses
as a wonder in modern medicine . . .
Perhaps it will soon be recognized as
OUR MIGHTIEST
GERM FIGHTER
BY Jim Powell
Thanks to eye-opening research,
silver is emerging as a wonder of modern
medicine. An antibiotic kills perhaps
a half-dozen different disease organisms,
but silver kills some 650.
Resistant strains fail to develop.
Moreover, silver is virtually non-toxic.
Says a pioneering silver
researcher, Dr. Harry Margraf of St. Louis:
Silver is the best all around
germ-fighter we have.
(Continued on next page)
Developed by Dr. Charles Fox of Columbia University, a silver compound
known as silver sulfadiazine is used in seventy percent of burn centers in
the U.S. It also stops the herpes virus responsible for cold sores and
fever blisters. With silver sulfadiazine, Dr. Fox scored what is properly
acclaimed as a momentous breakthrough, for it was the first new silver
compound to win FDA approval and become generally available. A
pharmaceutical house, Marion Laboratories, is offering it as an ointment,
under the brand name of Silvadene; other companies are making silver
sulfadiazine available in several countries from Canada to India.
To guard against such water-borne diseases as dysentery, more than
half the worlds airlines now use silver water filters. For instance:
British Airways, Swissair, Scandinavian Airlines, Lufthansa, Olympic, Air
France, Canadian Pacific Airlines, Alitalia, KLM, Japan Airlines, and Pan
Am.
The Swiss government has approved silver water filters.
Theyre used in
homes and offices throughout the country.
After testing 23 methods of purifying water, NASA selected a
silver
system for the space shuttle.
Silver is widely used to purify swimming pool water, and it
doesnt
sting your eyes as chlorine does. A dramatic demonstration recently took
place in Nebraska: Fifty gallons of sewage was pumped into a pool without
any disinfectant. A standard measure of contamination is the count of E.
coli, an organism found in the intestinal tract. The count soared to 7000
E. coli cells per milliliter of water. Then the water was flushed through
silver electrodes-and within three hours it was completely free of E. coli.
Silver also can fight deadly poisons. Japanese firms have
announced
five startling technologies which use silver to purify air. One company
converts fifty parts per million of carbon monoxide to harmless carbon
dioxide by passing the gas through a stack of screens coated with silver
compounds. Another uses silver compounds to remove vinyl cyanide, methyl
cyanide, and hydrocyanic acid from its discharges. A gas chemicals company
removes all the 200 parts per million of nitric oxide by passing the gas
through its silver compounds.
The currently increasing medical interest in silver actually reflects
a kind of revival in the public health sector: In ancient Greece and Rome,
people used silver containers to keep liquids fresh. American settlers,
traveling across the West, often put a silver dollar in milk to delay its
spoiling. Around the turn of the century, some doctors used silver nitrate
to help the healing of stomach ulcers.
Yet silver fell out of favor. The reason was Argyria-a skin
discoloration
that results when hundreds of times the proper amount of silver compounds
are injected or taken orally. Silver becomes deposited under the skin and
stays there. Its harmless. In fact, it kills bacteria that may be
present. But of course, nobody wants gray skin.
So for a while, then, only two medical uses for silver continued:
dentists
fill teeth with a silver alloy, and doctors put a few drops of 1 percent
silver nitrate solution in newborn babies eyes to kill bacteria that can
cause blindness.
The comeback of silver in medicine began more than a decade ago.
The late Dr. Carl Moyer, chairman of Washington Universitys Department
of
Surgery, received a grant to develop better treatments for burn victims.
Dr. Margraf, as the chief biochemist, worked with Dr. Moyer and other
surgeons to find an antiseptic strong yet safe to use over large areas the
body.
Dr. Margraf reviewed 22 antiseptic compounds and found drawbacks in all
of them. Mercury, for example, is an excellent antiseptic, but toxic, he
comments. Popular antiseptics such as Mercurochrome and Merthiolate can
be used over small areas only. Many iodine compounds are effective, but
quite a few people are allergic to iodine. Since the doctor rarely knows
if a patient is allergic, its prudent to rely on something else. Dilute
alcoholic solutions, hydrogen peroxide, and other antiseptics can be used
on little cuts, but are too painful on big wounds. Disease organisms can
become resistant to antibiotics, triggering a dangerous super-infection.
These compounds are also ineffective against a number of harmful bacteria,
including the biggest killer in burn cases-a greenish-blue bacterium called
Pseudomonas aeruginosa. It almost always shows up in burns, releasing a
poison.
Reviewing medical literature, Dr. Margraf found repeated references to
silver. Its described as a catalyst that disables the enzymes
microorganisms depend on to breathe. Consequently, they die.
When Dr. Margraf began his search, the best-known compound was silver
nitrate because its the simplest silver compound that dissolves in water
(Pure silver wont dissolve.). But though silver nitrate kills
microorganisms, it can also be corrosive and painful. Dr. Margraf noted
that it had been used in relatively high concentrations.
What would happen, he wondered, with more dilute solutions?
The researchers began testing, and after several months settled on a .5
percent solution. It killed Pseudomonas aeruginosa and permitted wounds to
heal. Resistant strains did not appear.
Silver nitrate, however, was far from ideal, reports Dr. Margraf: It
severely disturbs the balance of body salts, and its use must be halted
from time to time. It must be applied in thick, cumbersome dressings, and
stains everything it touches.
So he tested 53 other silver compounds, some of which were newly
synthesized. The most promising: a complex, silver-zinc-allantoinate.
It proved to be as effective with chronic skin ulcers as with burns. In
Archives of Surgery, published by the AMA, Dr. Margraf now reports his
latest findings: silver-zinc-allantoinate helped 339 out of 400 chronic
skin ulcers heal. On an average, bacterial counts dropped 99 percent in a
week. Many diabetics were saved from needless amputation. The compound
now is undergoing tests by Miles Laboratories.
Meanwhile, at Columbia, Dr. Fox, who had been studying the
germ-fighting
property of silver for nine years, tested nearly a hundred different
compounds before settling on silver sulfadiazine. Though it
contains sulfa, he reports,the silver keeps this compound from
acting like a sulfanamide. Resistance hasnt been a problem.
Richard L. Davies, executive director of the Silver Institute, which
monitors silver technology in 37 countries, reports:
In four years, weve described 87 important new medical uses for
silver.
Were just beginning to see to what extent silver can
relieve suffering and save lives.
Rx Silver: Case Histories
A speeding car overturned and burst into flames. The 18-year-old driver
suffered burns all over his face, neck, arms, hands, back, stomach, and
legs-burns covered more than 80 percent of his body.
Until recently, this would have been a death sentence. Doctors knew
how to restore vital body fluids
and salts, but had no way to fight
infection, the primary cause of death in burn cases.
Fortunately for this youth, a new silver compound killed deadly bacteria
and enabled him to heal. He was out of
the hospital within four months.
A 65-year-old diabetic cut himself on the leg. He washed and bandaged
it, but as often happens with diabetes, the pain persisted, and the cut
grew into a sore. Soon it became bigger than the bandage, and he had to
apply a dressing. Still, it grew bigger and ugly. In desperation, he went
to a clinic. His sore was diagnosed as a Stasis ulcer. For a year, one
treatment after another was tried. Nothing, including penicillin and
sulfanamide, could heal the ulcer. If his condition had continued
unchecked, his leg probably would have been amputated. But finally he was
referred to a clinic that treated skin ulcers with a new silver compound.
This promptly stopped the growth of all bacteria. In less than two months,
the ulcer was completely healed.
Taken from Sci/Di-March, 1978
