Superwater strikes down bugs

The developers of a form of ‘super-oxidised' water claim that their discovery can kill harmful bacteria, fungi and viruses in wounds. The new water may be more effective than bleach and not harm human tissue.

The product, called Microcyn, was presented recently at a biomedical business conference in Monaco. The developers said that the wounds of diabetic patients treated with the product and an antibiotic healed within 43 days on average, compared with 55 days for patients given the standard treatment of iodine plus and antibiotic.

The key ingredients are oxchlorine ions. These ions rapidly pierce the walls of free-living micro-organisms and so kill them. Human cells are not affected because they are tightly bound together in a matrix. Microcyn only kills cells that it can completely surround, according to researchers.