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Accumulate to Exterminate
14 May 2015

Accumulate to Exterminate

The dead returning to persecute the living is the stuff of horror movies, but for bacteria, that nightmare may well be a reality. And it’s being enabled by silver, a well-known antimicrobial compound with a surprising long-lasting impact. Recent research has shown that treating bacteria with silver not only kills the cells, but also causes them to accumulate silver particles (shown in white), which can then be released into the environment when healthy bacteria are present. Dubbed the 'zombie effect', this essentially turns dead bacteria into antimicrobial agents in their own right. Silver is already used extensively to provide protection against microbes; in hospitals, it can be present in anything from bandages to door handles. This new insight into how silver really affects bacterial populations could help improve the design of medical equipment, to fully utilise the potential of the bacterial kingdom’s living dead.

Written by Emmanuelle Briolat

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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