• Question: What in iodine makes it a good antiseptic and how?

    Asked by u12tsangv to Dilwar, Lou, Rachel, Simon, Susan on 16 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Susan Skelton

      Susan Skelton answered on 16 Nov 2013:

      Hi u12tsangv!
      An antiseptic is something that prevents infection by killing micro-organisms, like bacteria and viruses.

      Iodine damages the walls of the cells that make up the micro-organisms and causes the insides to leak out of the cells. This stops the micro-organisms from being able to make important proteins that are necessary for the organism to survive, so the micro-organism dies, and the infection disappears.

    • Photo: Simon Langley-Evans

      Simon Langley-Evans answered on 16 Nov 2013:

      Iodine has been used for thousands of years as the ancient Greeks recognised that wrapping wounds in seaweed (rich in iodine) kept them clean and helped them heal.Iodine was traditionally used in an alcohol solution known as Lugol’s solution. This is not as commonly used now as it can have some side effects, such as burns to the skin. Modern iodine antiseptics based on iodine bonded to other molecules which reduce these nasty effects and make them more useful in surgery and general wound treatments.

      Iodine antiseptics are very effective and even kill the major bugs like MRSA that we cannot kill with antibiotics. Susan has mentioned one way in which they work on bacteria and their cell walls, but there are other mechanisms too. Iodine knocks out some of the proteins that bacteria need to survive. The fact that iodine kills bacteria through different mechanisms makes it more effective as bacteria cannot easily evolve to survive against it.

    • Photo: Rachel Dakin

      Rachel Dakin answered on 17 Nov 2013:

      great question for our zone u12tsangv – I can’t add anything to the other answers. iodine is cool : )

Comments

  • Photo: u12tsangv

    u12tsangv commented on :

    Thanks, it’s really interesting! 🙂
    Simon, I was wondering how seaweed is iodine rich. Is it because it is found in salty water and salt has good healing elements as well or has it just ‘evolved’ that way?

  • Photo: Simon

    Simon commented on :

    Sorry u12tsangv
    The richest source of iodine is sea water. It is a mineral that has been eroded out of the ground and runs off down the rivers into the oceans. Any sea creature will tend to accumulate far more iodine than any land creature (plant or animal) ever could.