Looking for a silver lining - use of colloidal silver to treat infections

Vegetarian Times, May, 1996

Tuberculosis. Walking pneumonia. Meningitis. These and other infectious diseases are back with a vengeance, and experts blame overuse of antibiotics for the rebound. And through conventional medicine has responded to the crisis by developing new, more powerful antibiotics, many patients and practitioners have turned to colloidal silver, touted as a natural, non-toxic substitute. The question is, does it work?

Patients have found relief from staph, strep, prostate and sinus infections, as well as laryngitis and sore throats, when treated with silver colloid, says Debra Brammer, N.D., a naturopathic physician and faculty member at Seattle-based Bastyr University. Though few medical professionals are familiar with colloidal silver, no one disputes the need for an alternative to traditional antibiotics. "Hospitals are making an effort to limit antibiotic use, and I think that increased resistance to [drugs] like penicillin provides an important warning, " says Paul William Glezen, M.D., professor of preventive medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

Silver colloid is naturally occurring silver broken down into microscopic particles and suspended in liquid. When administered orally, it acts as a natural antifungal and antibiotic by killing bacteria, but is considered safe by practitioners because the metal is not absorbed by the body. Its proponents cite decades of word of mouth supporting its effectiveness, as well as published clinical studies in Europe and Australia: In this country, laboratory studies suggest that silver colloid has promise as an antibacterial agent: Tests conducted last year at Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia found that silver colloid slowed the replication of HIV-1 (human immunodeficiency virus type 1) and the bacteria that causes yeast infections--at least in a laboratory setting, Scientists at the National Institutes of Health Rocky Mountain Institute in Hamilton, Mont., also found that colloidal silver was effective against Lyme disease bacteria in the lab. But so far the substance has not been proven in double-blind clinical trials--considered the gold standard of research--to work in human subjects, although such research is underway.

Nonetheless, alternative practitioners say more patients than ever are asking about silver colloid. Critics worry that its reputation as an antimicrobial medication is giving false hope to patients living with AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome), this century's most worrisome infectious disease. At least one book hypes silver colloid as "the answer" to AIDS and the common cold, and author M. Paul Farber, Ph.D., claims he cured himself of Lyme and other diseases (he also markets his own brand of silver colloid). This enrages some in the medical community, who say patients with life-threatening diseases are being exploited. "People that are sick are the equivalent of a captive audience, " says Saul Green, Ph.d., a New York-based biochemist and alternative-medicine consultant who investigates medical claims. Silver colloid currently sells for about $SO for a 4-oz. bottle.

So far, there is little to suggest that silver colloid has any benefit to people suffering from AIDS. "There are great claims made for colloidal silver as a broad spectrum antibiotic, antiparasitic agent," says Leanna Standish, N.D., an AIDS researcher at Bastyr University. "I'm watching and waiting for any clinical trials to come out. But it's too early to tell what the results were." Farber says double-blind clinical trials are being conducted at several major medical centers, but the researchers involved declined to comment or could not be reached.

What should people who want to try silver colloid do? Go to a practitioner, says Brammer. Marketers say patients can administer silver colloid to themselves, but as with antibiotics, dosages must be tailored to the patient's age, weight and condition. "And silver colloid can cause an imbalance in the microflora in the intestines that help you break down food and protect the gut from opportunistic infections, so it's important to recolonize those, " she adds. In a word, if silver colloid does prove to have the benefits of antibiotics, it also has many of the same drawbacks.