Nanosilver Kills Tuberculosis Pathogen at Low Levels
A clinical study titled “Fabrication of Silver Nanoparticles and Their Antimicrobial Mechanisms,” published in 2006 in the journal European Cells and Materials (Vol. 11), demonstrated that silver nanoparticles at a concentration of only 10 ppm was effective against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
The researchers stated: “Silver nanoparticles were successfully produced less than 10nm in size. They showed excellent antibacterial activities against S. typhi, E. coli, P. aeruginosa around 1 ppm and S. aureus and M. tuberculosis around 10 ppm. Three types of antimicrobial mechanisms were observed: 1) Plasmolysis, cytoplasm of bacteria separated from bacterial cell wall, was observed in Gram negative bacteria 2) The synthesis of bacterial cell wall was inhibited in S. aureus. 3) Nanosilver particles found in the cytoplasm of M. tuberculosis may induce metabolic disturbance.”
The researchers concluded: “Silver nanoparticles…showed excellent antibacterial activity. Antimicrobial mechanisms of nanosilver were different according to the species of bacteria. From the result, silver nanoparticles will be available as a good antibiotic alternative.” In short, silver nanoparticles “induced metabolic disturbance” in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and killed them at 10 ppm, while killing Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomona aeruginosa and Escherichia coli at only 1 ppm.
