Hundreds of generations
used silver for curative purposes but they could not explain why silver was helpful or how
it worked.
Until about 150 years ago, no-one knew about microbes. It was only known that silver cured
the sick and protected the healthy. People observed that those who
use silver dishes and silver food containers got sick less often and could keep their food fresh longer than those who used dishes and container other than silver. Consequently, silver was highly valued and used generously in day to day life as well as medically, though almost exclusively by the wealthy. Silver's high price was prohibitive for a large segment of the population. In the late eighteen hundreds, microbes and their role in our health were discovered and understood. Silver's importance as a curative and protective agent against infections was realized and appreciated. It's price rose accordingly.
In 1938, Dr. Alexander
Fleming discovered penicillin. Penicillin proved to be an excellent antibiotic against
bacteria and it was affordable by almost everyone. From that time on, expensive silver
based medicines were in diminishing demand and their production slowed to a crawl.
However, after using antibiotics for a few decades, we are only a step away from being overcome by strong strains of bacteria
resistant to antibiotics. Interest in silver has
revived. Beside killing bacteria, silver proves to kill virus and fungi as well without
side effects. Since technology found ways to produce silver based healthcare items for a
price affordable to most, silver is on it's way to being generally
used instead of helping just a privileged few.
