Colloidal silver also has a good reputation against bacteria. Many years ago when I was a child, when I was sick my doctor used to dip something like a fat Q tip into a product called Argerol, have me lay down and put them in my nostrils for 10 minutes. I think this was to keep me from getting a strep throat or an ear infection.
The action of some metals, like silver, zinc and others was disregarded for years, because they weren’t directly antiseptic. But what they did do was inhibit pathogenic, both viral and bacterial, reproduction.
If you slow down their rates of reproduction enough, the immune system is able to police them up.
As a child, we always had a small tube of yellow mecuric oxide ointment for styes. Cleared them up in hours. Then they banned all mercury compounds. We also always had mercurochrome around for scrapes and cuts. Stung, but worked.