Editing Medical uses of silver (section)

==History==
[[Hippocrates]] in his writings discussed the use of silver in wound care.<ref name=pmid20429870>{{cite journal | vauthors = Dai T, Huang YY, Sharma SK, Hashmi JT, Kurup DB, Hamblin MR | title = Topical antimicrobials for burn wound infections | journal = Recent Patents on Anti-Infective Drug Discovery | volume = 5 | issue = 2 | pages = 124–51 | date = June 2010 | pmid = 20429870 | pmc = 2935806 | doi = 10.2174/157489110791233522 }}</ref> At the beginning of the twentieth century surgeons routinely used silver sutures to reduce the risk of infection.<ref name=pmid20429870/><ref name=pmid19566416>{{cite journal | vauthors = Alexander JW | title = History of the medical use of silver | journal = Surgical Infections | volume = 10 | issue = 3 | pages = 289–92 | date = June 2009 | pmid = 19566416 | doi = 10.1089/sur.2008.9941 }}</ref> In the early 20th century, physicians used silver-containing eyedrops to treat ophthalmic problems,<ref name=pmid20767446>{{cite journal | vauthors = Roe AL | title = Collosol Argentum and ITS Ophthalmic Uses | journal = British Medical Journal | volume = 1 | issue = 2820 | pages = 104 | date = January 1915 | pmid = 20767446 | pmc = 2301624 | doi = 10.1136/bmj.1.2820.104 }}</ref> for various infections,<ref name=pmid24107712>{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(01)66545-0 |title=Electric Metallic Colloids and Their Therapeutical Applications |journal=The Lancet |volume=179 |issue=4614 |pages=322–323 |year=1912 | vauthors = MacLeod CE }}</ref><ref name="Searle-uses">{{cite book| vauthors = Searle AB |title=The Use of Colloids in Health and Disease|publisher=London Constable & Co. |location=Gerstein-University of Toronto : Toronto Collection|year=1920|chapter=Chapter IX: Colloidal Remedies and Their Uses|chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/useofcolloidsinh00searuoft#page/83/mode/1up }}</ref> and sometimes internally for diseases such as [[tropical sprue]],<ref name="Cantlie-Sprue">{{cite journal | vauthors = Cantlie J |title= Some recent observations on sprue |journal=BMJ |volume=2 |issue=2759 |pages=1296–7 |year=1913 |doi=10.1136/bmj.2.2759.1282 | pmc = 2345624 }}</ref> [[epilepsy]], [[gonorrhea]], and the [[common cold]].<ref name=NCCIHsilver/><ref name="mskcc">{{cite web | publisher = [[Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center]] | url = http://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/herb/colloidal-silver |title = Colloidal silver| date = May 16, 2011 | access-date = January 2, 2013}}</ref> During World War I, soldiers used silver leaf to treat infected wounds.<ref name=pmid20429870/><ref name=pmid19554127>{{cite journal | vauthors = Borsuk DE, Gallant M, Richard D, Williams HB | title = Silver-coated nylon dressings for pediatric burn victims | journal = The Canadian Journal of Plastic Surgery | volume = 15 | issue = 1 | pages = 29–31 | year = 2007 | pmid = 19554127 | pmc = 2686041 | doi = 10.1177/229255030701500111 }}</ref>

In the 1840s, founder of gynecology [[J. Marion Sims]] employed silver wire, which he had a jeweler fashion, as a suture in gynecological surgery. This produced very favorable results when compared with its predecessors, silk and catgut.<ref name=pmid19566416/>

Prior to the introduction of modern antibiotics, colloidal silver was used as a germicide and disinfectant.<ref name="Searle-germicide">{{cite book| vauthors = Searle AB |title=The Use of Colloids in Health and Disease|publisher=London Constable & Co.|location=Gerstein – University of Toronto : Toronto Collection|year=1920|chapter=Chapter VIII: Germicides and Disinfectants|chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/useofcolloidsinh00searuoft#page/70/mode/2up }}</ref> With the development of modern antibiotics in the 1940s, the use of silver as an antimicrobial agent diminished, although it retains some use in medicinal compounds today. [[Silver sulfadiazine]] (SSD) is a compound containing silver and the antibiotic sodium sulfadiazine, which was developed in 1968.<ref name=pmid17307768>{{cite journal | vauthors = Chopra I | title = The increasing use of silver-based products as antimicrobial agents: a useful development or a cause for concern? | journal = The Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy | volume = 59 | issue = 4 | pages = 587–90 | date = April 2007 | pmid = 17307768 | doi = 10.1093/jac/dkm006 | doi-access = free }}</ref>