World Journal of
Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences

OLIGODYNAMIC ACTION OF COPPER AND SILVER ON WATERBORNE PATHOGENS

Puja Rajput, Archana Vagare and Dr. Sukhada Akole*

ABSTRACT

Though there has been improvement in providing safe drinking water in developing nations such as India, the adverse impact of unsafe water continues. Today, inadequate access to clean drinking water and sanitation are among the biggest environmental problems of India, threatening both urban and rural populations. Microbially unsafe water is still a major concern world over. Although many water-purification methods exist, these are expensive and beyond the reach of many people, especially in rural areas. Copper and silver have been used as disinfectants since ancient times and recent research has demonstrated that antimicrobial copper and silver surfaces may have practical applications in healthcare and related areas. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of copper and silver vessels against important diarrhoegenic bacteria including Escherichia coli, enteropathogenicSalmonella typhi. When drinking water was stored in copper vessels, the concentration of copper released in the water after 24h of storage was found to be 0.862 mg/L. When the drinking water was contaminated with 108 cfu/ml of Salmonellatyphi and Escherichia coli, they were observed to be completely inhibited at different temperatures (4oC, 37oC, 45oC) of storage after an average time period of 21h. The isolates (Salmonella typhi and Escherichia coli) were found to be multi drug resistant in nature. The physico-chemical properties of drinking water were observed to remain unchanged after storage in the respective vessels. Thus, copper and silver vessels hold promise as a point-of-use solution for storage of drinking-water, especially in developing countries.

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