First off, I just have to say that I was amused to see three or four
instances of non-specific symptoms such as sleeplessness, vomiting, and
lethargy cited as "medical research" indicating that colloidal silver is
somehow an unsafe product which "poisons" those who take it.  Hmmm.  I've
experienced symptoms of that nature several times in my life after taking
Pepto-Bismol, or aspirin, or Robitussin, all of which are generally
classified as safe products.  Generally, though, I wasn't feeling too
good before I took the product, anyway, though .. which is why I took it.
I don't think three or four isolated incidents prove much of anything.
 
Anyway, Penny asked an excellent question regarding colloidal silver use in
ferrets.  I've been studying use of this product for awhile (and have used
it in myself and my pets - with the blessing of my doctor and vet.,
respectively).  So I'd like to take a couple of moments to share some info.
from my notes, medical databases, and the notes from my medical classes.
 
First of all, colloidal silver has been in use for thousands of years, and
(as reported by Health Newsline) is used in all major burn centers in the
United States.  UCLA medical labs found it effective on every virus they
tested it on.  (Health Newsline, "The Return of Silver in Medicine:
Colloidal Silver - Nature's Alternative to Antibiotics").  Science Digest
reported in its March 1978 edition that "Silver is finding wholly new uses
as a wonder in modern medicine ..  perhaps it soon will be recognized as
OUR MIGHTIEST GERM FIGHTER".  Recent research at Washington University
School of Medicine in St.  Louis has shown that silver is bactericidal to
some 650 strains of disease causing organisms and that resistant strains
can not develop with silver the way that they will with antibiotics.
(Source: www.cyberpet.com)
 
L.C. Ford, M.D. reported in 1988 from the UCLA School of Medicine that
silver solutions were effective against vaginitis, salmonella typhi,
streptococcus, staphylococcus, neisseria gonorrhea, and other enteric
pathogens and found that it was fungicidal for candida albicans and m.
furfur.  Dr. Robert Becker, M.D., author of "The Body Electric" notes that
silver caused cells to dedifferentiate and re-differentiate in the process
of regenerative healing.  He notes that "What we had actually done was
rediscovered the fact that silver killed bacteria, which we had known for
centuries ..  when antibiotics were discovered, clinical uses for silver as
an antibiotic were discarded".  (Source: 1995 interview with Bio/Tech
News).  NASA also uses silver for its antibiotic properties; they utilize
silver in their water filters and water purification systems for the space
shuttles.  The reason for this is that silver not only kills any bacteria
present in the water, but it also keeps bacteria from growing inside of the
filter itself.
 
So, how does colloidal silver actually work in your ferret to fight
infection?  Richard Davies and Samuel Etris discussed this in a 1996
monograph entitled "The Development and Functions of Silver in Water
Purification and Disease Control".  Basically, there are THREE mechanisms
of deactivation that silver utilizes to incapacitate disease-causing
organisms.  These are: catalytic oxidation, reaction with cell membranes,
and binding with the DNA of disease organisms to prevent unwinding.  Here,
in brief, is how they work (paraphrasing from the monograph mentioned
above):
 
1. Catalytic Oxidation:  Employing a simple catalytic reduction/oxidation
reaction, colloidal silver will react with any negative charge presented by
the organism's transport or membrane proteins and deactivate them.
 
2. Reaction with Bacterial Cell Membranes:  There is evidence that silver
ions attach to membrane surface radicals of bacteria, impairing cell
respiration and blocking its energy transfer system.  One explanation is
based on the nature of enzyme construction, which allows metals of higher
valance to replace enzymes of lower valance in an enzyme complex.  (This
prevents the enzyme from functioning normally).  Silver has a valance of 2,
which allows it to replace many metals with a lower or equal valance.
 
3. Binding with DNA:  This is based on studies dones by C.L. Fox and S.M.
Modak with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a tenacious bacteria that is difficult
to treat.  They demonstrated that as much as 12% of silver is taken up by
the organism's DNA.  This in turn prevented the DNA from unwinding, which
is an essential step for cellular replication to occur.
 
So how safe is colloidal silver for humans (and ferrets)?  The EPA's Poison
Control Center lists no toxicity listing for colloidal silver.  According
to Robert Beck, M.D. (author of The Body Electric) colloidal silver has
also not been linked to the argyria (discoloration of the skin) that has
been caused in the past by silver compounds, such as silver nitrate,
silver sulfate, and silver sulfadiazine, etc.  The body has been found to
eliminate excess silver via the metallothiones.  These are ubiquitous
proteins, first characterized in 1957, which have the property of binding
with heavy metals, such as silver, into metal-thiolate-cluster structures
which aid in transportation, storage, and elimination of nonessential trace
metals which enter the body.
 
I hope this helps to answer your questions.  If you have any more
questions, please don't hesitate to ask ..  I have lots more information
on colloidal silver, but I'm trying to keep this short enough to fit in
the FML!  Thanks to Penny for an excellent question ....
 
- Ela
[Posted in FML issue 2560]