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Slipstream How to Kill Germs,
and Consumer Resistance Source of
Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/business/23stream.html Dr. Elewski, a professor of dermatology at the School
of Medicine at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, once
tested bedroom carpets in hotels as she scouted for foot fungi (the
micro-organisms that can flake off our skin and reside among carpet fibers).
She found so many different microbes that she stopped categorizing hotels as
being three or four stars. Instead, she now gives them three or four spores. So, when
hoteling, I wear socks religiously as my little piece of body armor. And how
about you — where do you locate your inner Howard Hughes? Do you carry hand
sanitizer around like a talisman? Wear gloves on buses or subways? Press
elevator buttons with your knuckles? Eschew bowls of candy next to restaurant
cash registers? Roll up your pants two hem lengths before entering a public
lavatory or use paper towels to open the door on the way out? In a world
where the norovirus travels by cruise ship and the swine
flu can hop a plane, we have become a country with germ
compulsions, a nation of microbephobes. Still, bacteria have learned to outsmart
antibiotics, and Pure
Bioscience, a company based in El Cajon, Calif., says it is
counterattacking with an even smarter biocide. The
company developed a molecule called silver
dihydrogen citrate, or S.D.C., that it bills as an all-purpose germ killer.
Hungry germs are attracted to the citrate part of the molecule, which they
recognize as a food source. Then microscopic particles of ionized silver, an
antimicrobial agent, emerge and destroy the germ cells. Tradition
is found here: silver has been
used since the days of the ancient Greeks to purify water containers. And
silver dihydrogen citrate turns out to be a pretty effective killer of
certain viruses, bacteria and fungi. In the
United States, the Environmental Protection Agency has
registered it as a disinfectant — a substance that wipes out the entire
population of a given micro-organism — for hard surfaces like countertops.
The molecule, used in a consumer product called PureGreen 24, can
kill off salmonella and listeria in 30 seconds,
according to the product label; it needs 10 minutes to eliminate athlete’s
foot, the rhinovirus and the Hong Kong flu. In Europe, meanwhile, where
regulators have approved silver dihydrogen citrate as an antimicrobial agent
for personal care products, Beiersdorf has introduced antiperspirants and
deodorants called Nivea
for Men Silver Protect. But even
as swine flu looms large this fall, people are skeptical about a new antimicrobial
substance that can eliminate both methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus
aureus, or MRSA, and the bacteria behind body odor. “It’s not
such a miracle,” says Michael Krall, the chief executive of Pure Bioscience.
“It does one thing really good: It kills bugs. But when you introduce a new
technology, you are going up against some very large resistance.” Indeed, it
turns out that humans have something in common with bacteria that have
learned how to resist antibiotics. As much as we want to control germs, we
have learned to resist the idea of a more powerful disinfectant. What if it
kills off so many microbes that we lose our natural ability to fight germs?
What if some bacteria begin to resist the allure of citrate? What if the
pico-sized — that is, smaller than a nanometer — silver ions have downstream
effects? What if we fear a smarter germ killer as much as, or more than, we
fear the germ itself? Mr. Krall
has two answers to all of this: science and live demonstrations. Nationally
known laboratories have run batteries of tests on silver dihydrogen citrate,
which Pure Bioscience has posted
on its Web site. Skeptics can read the results for themselves. For those who
like more tangible evidence, Mr. Krall is wont to open wide and spray the
stuff in his mouth to demonstrate his belief in its safety. SOME
cruise lines are testing the disinfectant offshore against the norovirus, Mr.
Krall says. Some jails and schools have started using it to keep flu and
infections at bay. And, last month, Pure Bioscience formed a partnership with
a new pharmaceutical company created by doctors at the Cleveland
Clinic. The nascent company hopes to use the antimicrobial agent
to develop over-the-counter and prescription drugs to combat the
microorganisms that cause acne, toenail fungus and athlete’s foot. It will
take a few years, however, for the company to go through the clinical trial
process and submit the results for product approval by the Food and Drug Administration. Until then,
when I travel, I am keeping my socks on. |
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