Silver and Viruses

@eladar said
This is an interesting article

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2443992/

Sounds good but at the end of the day it's just a 12 year-old anecdote.

@wolfgang59 said
I think it quite plausible that people in antiquity noticed that those who
drank from silver vessels fared better when there was a disease doing the
rounds. This is what a World Health Organisation (WHO) paper says;
Silver has been known to have antibacterial properties since Roman times.

https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/publications/silver-02032018.pdf

That's a 105 page document summarising the current state of knowledge concerning the anti-microbial properties of silver. As an aside, note that the whole of Chapter 3 and Appendix B, about one third of the document, are devoted to toxicity and potential harms of silver. What it doesn't do is make any historical statements. Following a link [1] from Wikipedia I found this statement:

The medical uses of silver date back to at least the time of Hippocrates (the “father of modern medicine”.), who in his writings discussed silver’s role in wound care.

Topical Antimicrobials for Burn Wound Infections
Tianhong Dai, Ying-Ying Huang, Sulbha K. Sharma, Javad T. Hashmi, Divya B. Kurup, and Michael R. Hamblin
Recent Pat Antiinfect Drug Discov. 2010 Jun 1; 5(2): 124–151.

So, they used silver as a treatment, but this is different from using it to prevent transmission of disease.

According to Wikipedia [2] silver was actually more valuable than gold in ancient Egypt, until about the start of the New Kingdom, basically for technological reasons connected with metal production.

The principal reason for having Silver tableware or cutlery was status. It's primary use for most of human history was coinage and bling.

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2935806/
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver#History

@wolfgang59 said
Sounds good but at the end of the day it's just a 12 year-old anecdote.

Case studies are regarded as low quality evidence. However, that there was a "recent deterioration coinciding with temporary interruption of colloidal silver for a month." is suggestive [1]. I like the way they mentioned: "significant improvements in his golf handicap.", as disease progression indicators go, that's quite a fun one.

Regarding possible treatments for covid-19, the two bugs mentioned in the paper were Burkholderia multivorans and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia which are both bacteria, the Wikipedia entry for the former [2] consists of the sentence:

Burkholderia multivorans is a species in Phylum proteobacteria. The cells are rod-shaped. It is known to cause human disease, such as colonisation of the lung in cystic fibrosis.

Because they are both bacteria and given the specific mention of B. multivorans apparently being cleared the relevance to sufferers of cystic fibrosis is clear. It's not so obvious that this case study provides any evidence supporting the investigation of silver as a cure for covid-19. However, from the Wikipedia page on S. maltophilia [3]:

S. maltophilia frequently colonizes humid surfaces such as the tubes used in mechanical ventilation and indwelling urinary catheters as well as medical devices such as suction catheters and endoscopes.

In which case it may have relevance to the prevention or treatment of secondary bacterial infections in patients intubated for viral pneumonia.

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2443992/
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burkholderia_multivorans
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stenotrophomonas_maltophilia#Pathogenesis

@DeepThought

So because it was not used on a virus means that it might not work for a virus?

@Eladar
Why do you keep touting an inferior product for anti bacterial and virals?

@sonhouse

Look at the title of the thread.

@eladar said
@DeepThought

So because it was not used on a virus means that it might not work for a virus?

No, it that because what they were measuring was its effect on bacteria the paper's not evidence that it's effective against viral pneumonia. There's a lack of specificity as far as covid-19 is concerned, except, possibly, with regard to secondary infections consequent to intubation. The paper provides no evidence either for or against the use of colloidal silver as a cure for covid-19.

@deepthought said
No, it that because what they were measuring was its effect on bacteria the paper's not evidence that it's effective against viral pneumonia. There's a lack of specificity as far as covid-19 is concerned, except, possibly, with regard to secondary infections consequent to intubation. The paper provides no evidence either for or against the use of colloidal silver as a cure for covid-19.

We know that silver is also effective against viruses.

Colloidal silver benefits can be experienced as an anti-viral for HIV/AIDS, pneumonia, herpes, shingles and warts. Dr. Martin Hum, from the Institute for Optimum Nutrition, lists colloidal silver as one of the natural remedies to stop viruses fast. (10)

 

Colloidal silver suffocates the virus and can even reduce the activity of the HIV virus in AIDS patients. There are also numerous anecdotal accounts of colloidal silver’s efficacy against the hepatitis C virus.

http://www.meintu.com/index.php/blog/6-8-proven-benefits-colloidal-silver?start=7520

@eladar said
Colloidal silver benefits can be experienced as an anti-viral for HIV/AIDS, pneumonia, herpes, shingles and warts. Dr. Martin Hum, from the Institute for Optimum Nutrition, lists colloidal silver as one of the natural remedies to stop viruses fast. (10)

 

Colloidal silver suffocates the virus and can even reduce the activity of the HIV virus in AIDS patients. There are a ...[text shortened]... tis C virus.

http://www.meintu.com/index.php/blog/6-8-proven-benefits-colloidal-silver?start=7520

I tried looking up "the Institute for Optimum Nutrition" on Wikipedia, I found its founder's Wikipedia page. It seems somewhat controversial. I'd be wary of any of their claims about silver as a cure for pretty much anything.

Based on the evidence I've seen the most likely looking treatment to my layperson's eyes for someone infected with covid-19, showing signs of acute respiratory distress syndrome is one of the cholinergic agonists.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Holford

@DeepThought

The guy was a medical doctor.

In any case, silver is proven effective against viruses and safe to use through a nebulizer. It works for bacteria so it it likely to work on viruses.

@eladar said
@DeepThought

The guy was a medical doctor.

In any case, silver is proven effective against viruses and safe to use through a nebulizer. It works for bacteria so it it likely to work on viruses.

I suggest you look at the huge discussion about adverse effects of silver in the WHO document wolfgang53 linked to in his earlier post. See Chapter 3 and Appendix B, especially Appendix B as that presents the actual evidence.

https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/publications/silver-02032018.pdf

The WHO is not a valid medical organization.

@deepthought said
That's a 105 page document summarising the current state of knowledge concerning the anti-microbial properties of silver. What it doesn't do is make any historical statements.

It has the quote I used
Silver has been known to have antibacterial properties since Roman times.
in its introduction.

@eladar said
The WHO is not a valid medical organization.

Quadrophenia was good though.