A comparative study of electroless-plated silver wound care dressings to commercial silver-based wound care dressings

The antimicrobial activity of several commercially available silver-based wound care dressings was evaluated using in vitro experiments. By using a modified Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method, the antimicrobial activity of electroless-plated silver nylon wound care dressings was compared to the activity of other silver-containing antimicrobial wound care dressings. Zones of inhibition were recorded for each bandage at 24-hour intervals over seven consecutive days on freshly prepared culture dishes with Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 33591), Staphylococcus epidermidis (ATCC 12228), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 9027), Escherichia coli (ATCC 8739), Acinetobacter baumannii (ATCC 15149), and Candida albicans (ATCC 10231). The sterility of each wound care dressing was also determined every day throughout the seven-day study. The results indicate that many commercially available silver-based wound care dressings not only have broad-spectrum antibacterial and antifungal properties but the antimicrobial properties of these dressings also remain effective for several days. Although many of the fifteen commercially available bandages were effective against inhibiting the growth of the six organisms, only the electrolessplated silver nylon dressings had large zones of inhibition and remained sterile throughout the entire seven-day study for all six organisms. In addition, the antimicrobial activity of the silver ion was tested against the toxic black mold Stachybotrys chartarum (ATCC 201212), and the results indicate that the silver ion is effective at inhibiting the growth of this organism