How does Colloidal Silver Work?
Silver disrupts the capability of a bacteria cell in forming a chemical bond necessary to survive. The bonds create the cell’s physical structure thus as the bacteria interacts with silver, the bacteria actually falls apart. This is why bandages made with silver (or bandages used with a silver gel) work great as they prevent bacterial growth and increase healing in less time.
Silver has been proven to help the growth of new cells which can increase the rate at which wounds are able to heal. When treating burn or wound victims, silver is extremely important. In hospitals, the Staph germ called MRSA, also called the superbug, is resistant to almost all antibiotics. Many hospitals use equipment and tools that utilize silver: surgical tools, catheters, needles, stethoscopes, furniture and door handles.
Colloidal Silver Liquid ~ Chance Of Becoming Resistant Is Rare
Silver was used instead of antibiotics prior to 1940. Once antibiotics were discovered, the use of silver decreased drastically. It is important to remember most bacteria do not develop resistance to silver, but bacteria do develop resistance to many antibiotics.
Howard Mitchell was a former teacher of physics and chemistry conducted experiments with colloidal silver. He discovered that colloidal silver did not effect acidophilus which is the ”good bacteria” found in the stomach. He used extremely high concentrations which would be more than needed to destroy other forms of bacteria. Even in high concentrations, it showed that the intestinal flora (good bacteria) flourished. In fact, there are some theories that the silver ions may be helpful in stimulating the growth of beneficial bacteria. This also help boost the immune system.
Rarely, some individuals who take silver may experience diarrhea if they take too much. Once they decrease their dosage, the lactobacilli counts were shown to normalize in approximately 12 hours. In The Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology, it is stated: “Silver compounds have proven efficacy against MRSA and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) as well as extended spectrum beta-lactamase producers. Resistance to silver compounds is rare and they may be active against biofilm.
Silver’s therapeutic properties were recently highlighted by Liu et al, who demonstrated accelerated wound closure through the proliferation and migration of keratinocytes as well as differentiation of fibroblasts in wounds treated with silver nanoparticles. Silver sulfadiazine continues to be frequently used on account of its low toxicity, low hypersensitivity, and low incidence of resistance.”
Lucian Lucia; Associate Professor of Chemistry, North Carolina State University and George John; Chemist, City College of New York are quoted in the following statement: “Lucia and John both agree that bacteria cannot build up a resistance to silver nanoparticles as they can to antibiotics, because of the way the silver nanoparticle attacks — destroying the structure of the cells and killing them. Antibiotics, on the other hand, suppress the activity of bacteria but don’t necessarily kill them.“ That’s the beauty of silver,” Lucia says. “There’s no way to develop a resistance to it.”
Ian Chopra in the article from the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy concluded; “The clinical incidence of silver resistance remains low, and emergence of resistance can be minimized if the level of silver ions released from products is high and the bactericidal activity rapid.” and “However, even though silver resistance has been documented, current evidence suggests the clinical threat is low”.
Gram Positive and Gram Negative
Dr. Hans Christian Gram (Danish bacteriologist) is known for his development method of staining bacteria. The staining process later played a role in classifying bacteria and his staining techniques were one of the most important in microbiology. Using crystal violet after the staining process, the bacteria that would resist and appear deep purple or blue in color were defined as “gram positive” and the bacteria that turned red were defined as “gram negative”.
Bacteria can be classified in two forms; anaerobic and aerobic. Good bacteria use oxygen which are aerobic and carry a positive charge. The positive charge enables the bacteria to attract the oxygen molecule in order for the bacteria to breathe. Pathogenic bacteria are negatively charged which are anaerobic and if they are oxidized, they will die. Negatively charged bacteria and negatively charged oxygen are attracted silver particles and will bind with them, thus becoming neutralized. The silver particles will oxidize the pathogen and destroy it. Almost all pathogens are negatively charged where silver is positively charged. Like a magnet, the two attract each other via a static attraction.
It was shown in an abstract study that a colloidal silver solution prepared in co-operation of the Russian Academy of Sciences had a great deal of bactericidal activity. Consistent bactericidal effect on gram-negative microorganisms was observed after being exposed to the silver solution for 2 hours at 10ppm. Gram-positive microorganisms were not affected as much by the colloidal silver solution. The gram-positive microorganisms died after the 4 hour mark of being in the silver solution.
Colloidal Silver vs. Antibiotics - Is Colloidal Silver antiviral?
Many reports have been written comparing the results of silver and antibiotics. The reports have shown that silver has been more effective where it can sometimes produce results in hours rather than days or weeks for antibiotics. John Marshall Dudley described in his research paper "The Chemical and Physical Basis of the Therapeutic Value of Colloidal Forms of Silver" there are a number of reasons for this which are outlined below:
1. Colloidal Silver is positively charged; whereas, antibiotics do not carry a strong positive charge. This ability draws silver to the pathogens like a magnet, instead of floating around until the silver and pathogen happen to bump into each other. This effect is perfectly referred to as the “Silver Bullet”- effect by Dr. Robert Beck.
2. Silver effectively kills the pathogen immediately by oxidation. Antibiotics have no affect on viruses at all, and antibiotics will only kill bacteria when it tries to divide or antibiotics will prevent the pathogen from dividing. In the first situation, it could take the bacteria several days before it attempts to divide; and in the second situation, the bacteria is not killed The antibiotics just prevent it from replicating. In both cases, the immune system must destroy all of the pathogens. With silver, the pathogens are killed immediately.
3. Silver is a catalyst. When a particle of silver oxidizes a pathogen, the pathogen is destroyed and floats away. The silver is then able to attack another pathogen. Antibiotics typically bind with the pathogen. This means for each pathogen that is destroyed, one particle of the antibiotic is used up. Due to silver's rapid effectiveness, this sometimes can result in feeling sick from the large amount of toxins released from the pathogens being destroyed. It is recommend for severely ill people or someone with a history of serious health issues, to start slowly and build up in order to prevent this occurrence. (http://www.colloidalsilvers.org/silver-for-health/how-colloidal-silver-works/)