Spectrum of Antimicrobial Activity Associated With Ionic Colloidal Silver
In this study, published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine in March 2013, researchers tested an ionic colloidal silver product against “several strains of bacteria, fungi, and viruses” that were “grown under multicycle growth conditions in the presence or absence of ionic colloidal silver in order to assess the antimicrobial activity.”
According to the researchers, “…the Food and Drug Administration currently does not recognize colloidal silver as a safe and effective antimicrobial agent. The goal of this study was to further evaluate the antimicrobial efficacy of colloidal silver.” The researchers found that “significant inhibition was observed” for bacteria grown under aerobic (oxygen rich) or anaerobic (oxygen poor) conditions. However, the effect of the ionic silver “varied significantly” on fungal cultures, depending upon the strain or genera of fungus treated. And no viral growth inhibition was observed for the viruses tested.
The study authors concluded, “The study data support ionic colloidal silver as a broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent against aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, while having a more limited and specific spectrum of activity against fungi.”