Since a member of the list posted requesting more information on colloidal
silver, I wanted to add a bit more info.  that I have found on this
substance.  None of this testing has been directly on ferrets; then again,
drug testing on a lot of the products we use for our fuzzies has never been
done specifically *on* ferrets, either.  Use your own judgement (and ask
your vet!) to extrapolate data to your pets.
 
- The Herald of Provo Utah, February 2, 1992, ran an article on Pg. D1, in
which a staff member of Brigham Young University by the name of Daryl Tichy
has been successfully experimenting with colloidal silver in the treatment
of AIDS, along with warts and parvo virus in a dog.  "Tichy said he had the
material [colloidal silver] tested at two different labs; results showed
the solution killed a variety of pathogens, including the HIV virus."
Tichy then states, "I don't have a doubt in my mind."  He says he has not
been able to obtain funds to continue his research.
 
- Temple University School of Medicine conducted studies of colloidal
silver against candida albicans and crypto- coccus neormans in February
1995.  Their study report states "preliminary studies on the silver
preparation (1500 ppm) show it to be effective in inhibiting and killing
strains of candida albicans and cryptoccus neoformans in-vitro.  Four
strains of C. Neoformans were tested and they were killed by the
preparation at 150-330 ppm.  The growth of these strains were inhibited at
a concentration as low as 0.3 ppm.  Three strains of C. Albicans were
tested and they were killed by the preparation at between 46 and 93 ppm.
Growth was inhibited at between 0.7 and 1.4 ppm.  Additional studies should
be done to evaluate in-vivo effectively".
 
- Extensive research into the curative properties of silver has been
conducted for many years at the Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse University,
Syracuse, N.Y. under the direction of Dr. Robert Becker, M.D.  (Note: This
is a different person than Robert Beck, who has also done colloidal silver
research.  Dr. Becker is a research scientist in the field of bone
regeneration).  Dr. Becker states that "Of course, the germ-killing action
of silver has been known for some time ..  the Soviets use silver ions to
sterilize recycled water aboard their space stations ... It even kills
antibiotic-resistant strains, and also works on fungus infections".
 
- Dr. Bjorn Nordenstrom, of the Larolinska Institute, Sweden, has
successfully used silver as a component in his cancer treatments for many
years.
 
- Dr. Henry Crooks (author, Use of Colloids in Health-Disease) found that
silver in the colloidal state is highly germicidal, and quite harmless to
humans.  In laboratory tests he found that "all fungus, virus, bacterium,
steptococcus, staphylococcus, and other pathogenic organisms are killed
in three or four minutes.  In fact, there is no microbe known that is not
killed by colloidal silver in six minutes or less in a dilution as little
as five parts per million."
 
- Peter Lindemann reports in his 1997 article, Colloidal Silver, A Closer
Look that a study conducted in part by the Institute of Microbiology in
Rome, Italy and published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology (Dec.
1992), stated that "Pure electro-colloidal silver out- performed silver
nitrate, silver chloride, and silver sulfadiazine as a broad spectrum
germicide.  For all classes of bacteria, fungus, and mold samples tested,
pure electro-colloidal silver worked better, and at much lower
concentrations.  They concluded that any additives reduced the effectiveness
of the pure silver ion; the silver salts being as much as 100 times less
effective."
 
- Ela
[Posted in FML issue 2567]