Korean J Nosocomial Infect Control.  2006 Dec;11(2):87-91.

Antimicrobial Effects of Nano-Silver Gauze against Common Bacterial Isolates

• Lee SM
• Yang EK
• Lee EY
• Kim YD
• Chang CL

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Silver has been used for disinfection and sterilization. We aimed to confirm the in-vitro antibacterial effects of nanocrystalline silver-coated gauze.
METHODS
Fourteen clinical isolates each of Escherichia coli and Acinetobacter baumannii were used. Bacterial suspensions made in tryptic soy broth were exposed to Ordinary and silver-coated gauze. Bacteria were then harvested from the gauze immediately and after 24 h incubation, cultured on blood agar plates and eunmerated for viable counts. The number of colonies was converted into common logarithms for comparison.
RESULTS
The number of colonies recovered from silver-coated gauze was significantly lower than those recovered from ordinary gauze when harvested immediately after exposure (E. coli, 3.06 vs 1.73; A. baumannii, 3.13 vs 1.98; P<0.001). After 24 h incubation of exposed gauze, silver-coated gauze produced less than 1 CFU/mL, whereas ordinary gauze produced a number of colonies significantly higher than it did immediately after exposure (E. coli, 4.13; A. baumannii, 4.46; P<0.001).
Conclusion
Compared with ordinary gauze, silver-coated gauze was shown to have 99.99% antibacterial effect.

Keyword

Acinetobacter baumonnii ; Escherichia coli; Nanocrystalline silver

MeSH Terms

Acinetobacter baumannii
Agar
Bacteria
Disinfection
Escherichia coli
Silver
Sterilization
Suspensions
Agar
Silver
Suspensions