rianjs.net

Wired's running a story on Microcyn — a water that kills single-celled organisms. They say it looks, tastes, and smells like water, but carries an ion imbalance that kills bacteria, viruses, and even spores.

Developed by Oculus Innovative Sciences in Petaluma, the super-oxygenated water is claimed to be as effective a disinfectant as chlorine bleach, but is harmless to people, animals and plants. If accidentally ingested by a child, the likely impact is a bad case of clean teeth.

[...]

Oculus said the solution, called Microcyn, may prove effective in the fight against superbugs, crossover viruses like bird flu and Ebola, and bioterrorism threats such as anthrax.

Apparently this concept has been around for a while, though I had not heard of it. For some reason I would have thought that I would, given that I've now taken Pharmaceutics I and II. We went over several forms of water for medical purposes: this was not among them. Maybe it should be.

While super-oxygenated water is nothing new — Microcyn has its roots in efforts to decontaminate nuclear reactors' cooling pipes, according to Alimi — it is typically effective for only a few hours after it is formulated. To keep it handy, hospitals and labs must invest in extremely expensive machines costing $100,000 or more.

To me, $100,000 doesn't seem like much money for a typical piece of hospital equipment. If super-oxygenated water is this effective at treating so many things, particularly things like MRSA and whatnot, then it would seem like a good business decision to treat with it, especially since it would more than pay for itself over the long-term. Maybe I'm missing a piece of the puzzle, though.

And unlike prior formulations of super-oxygenated water, Microcyn is pH-neutral, so it won't damage healthy tissue. This has prompted successful experiments in the treatment of challenging wounds like diabetic ulcers.

Physicians in Mexico using Microcyn observed rapid healing of burns and ulcers that the body could not repair for a decade or more because of infections, said Dr. Andres Gutierrez, head of the cell-therapy unit at the National Institute of Rehabilitation in Mexico City and an adviser to Oculus.

"Mexico was early to obtain the technology and give regulatory approval," he said. "Doctors using the product noticed the horrific smell of diabetic wounds was gone." The smell came from bacteria.

Dr. Amar Pal Singh Suri of the Diabetic Foot Care Clinic in Delhi, India, began experimenting with Microcyn after learning of it last fall in Germany. Trying it on a severe necrotic wound of a patient whose only remaining option was amputation, Suri said he was surprised to see rapid improvement and the growth of healthy skin tissue.

"I shifted my other patients onto Microcyn treatment and we are now treating more than 50, with very good results," said Suri.

The treatment will be available in the United States in June. It'll never be available over the counter, though, because the public tends to think that all bacteria and "germs" are bad (Chlorox commercials, anyone?), and they'd probably guzzle this stuff down to keep them healthy and then end up with GI problems over the long haul when they wipe out their normal flora. But I suppose that would only happen if the water retained its bug-killing abilities throughout the entire GI tract. I think the stomach might change its chemical properties, though.

For some reason I can see Microcyn enemas being used to treat C Diff. :p

Trackback This Post | Subscribe to the comments through RSS Feed