Silver Can Assist Antibiotics

From Cosmos Magazine:

... Silver’s infection-fighting abilities have been recognised since at least 400 BC, when Hippocrates was using it to help wounds to heal faster. James Collins at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Boston, US, and colleagues have now shown that silver can help overcome modern drug-resistant bacteria, including certain antibiotic-resistant E. coli strains.

The researchers made their discovery while investigating just how silver exerts its effects. Despite centuries of use, silver’s microbe-killing mode of action was still unclear, says Jose Ruben Morones-Ramirez, a member of Collins’ team. The team found that silver ions tip the bacteria’s cellular chemistry out of balance, killing the cells by generating deadly levels of highly destructive molecules called reactive oxygen species (ROS). The ions also degrade the bacteria’s outer membrane. 

As some antibiotics also kill bacteria through ROS generation, the researchers decided to test whether teaming these drugs with silver ions would create a more powerful medicine. The results were dramatic. The two treatments worked synergistically, the combination therapy up to 10,000 times more powerful than the antibiotic alone.

The article goes on to note that very tiny amounts of silver ions can cheaply purify water.