Silver has been used by mankind for thousands of years. Back in ancient Greek and Egyptian times silver was used to protect against smallpox, plague, syphilis, mumps, measles, polio, typhoid, typhus, coliform, etc. The aristocracy of Europe used silver utensils and kept their wine in silver goblets. The wine fermented into vinegar forming ionic silver acetate which they would drink. The absorption of ionized silver (ions, not nanoparticles,) caused a blue skin discoloration which is why they were called the “Blue Bloods”.
Before the advent of antibiotics in the 1940s, silver nitrate solutions were widely used for babies’ eyes, infected wounds, and infectious diseases. Silver is now being recognized again as a useful broad-spectrum antibiotic that can be taken orally or topically for humans and all animals.
