Yet perhaps the largest advantage of silver antimicrobials is that silver can be easily incorporated into numerous materials such as textiles and plastics, making it especially useful for applications where broad spectrum, sustained antimicrobial activity is desirable but where traditional antimicrobials would be impractical.
This is not only advantageous to the food industry, where silver-containing plastics have been incorporated into everything from refrigerator liners [189] to cutting boards to food storage containers, but it has also been revolutionary to the medical device industry, which has seen a proliferation of silver-coated urinary catheters, cardiovascular implants, esophageal tubes, bandages, sutures and other instruments on which bacterial growth compromises patient survival.
To date, the FDA has approved over a dozen silver-containing zeolites or other substances for use as food contact materials for the purpose of disinfection, as well as numerous silver-coated medical devices.