Colloidal Silver and Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria

Antibiotic resistant bacteria are bacteria that are not controlled or killed by antibiotics. They are able to survive and even multiply in the presence of an antibiotic. Most infection-causing bacteria can become resistant to at least some antibiotics. The most serious concern with antibiotic resistance is that some bacteria have become resistant to almost all of the easily available antibiotics. These bacteria are able to cause serious disease and this is a major public health problem. Important examples are methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) and multi-drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MDR-TB).

The Los Angeles Times, in an article entitled "Arsenal of Antibiotics Failing as Resistant Bacteria Develop" (October 23, 1994), writes "In the last decade, a broad resistance to antibiotics has begun to emerge. And because bacteria can transfer genes among themselves, experts only expect this resistance to grow. The potential nightmare is an Andromeda strain which is immune to all antibiotics and could wreak havoc."

Over the years, the medical establishment has reported on the new strains of "Super Bugs" that cannot be destroyed by antibiotics. Newsweek Magazine reported in the March 28, 1994 issue, that in 1992 thirteen thousand hospital patients died of infections that resisted every drug doctors tried. Some of these patients caught the infections in the hospital. Many diseases once thought to be easily treated with antibiotics are no longer treatable, not even with some of the newly developed antibiotics.

The September 1995 issue of Time Magazine featured an article titled "Revenge of the Killer Microbes". The author wrote: "Faced with AIDS, and with an ever increasing number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, doctors are forced to admit the medical profession was actually retreating in the battle against germs. The question ceased to be, when will infectious diseases be wiped out? and became, Where will the next deadly new plague appear?"

An extensive article entitled "Antibiotics, The End of Miracle Drugs?" appeared in the March 28, 1994 issue of Newsweek. "The rise of drug resistant germs is unparalleled in recorded history" the article states. "Penicillin and tetracycline lost their power over staph back in the 1950's and 60's. Another antibiotic, methicillin, provided a back up for awhile, but methicillin-resistant staph (MRSA)is now common in hospitals and nursing homes world wide."

An article, released in October 2006 by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, states "MRSA in healthcare settings commonly causes serious and potentially life threatening infections, such as bloodstream infections, surgical site infections, or pneumonia. In addition to healthcare associated infections, MRSA can also infect people in the community at large." The article continues "People infected with antibiotic-resistant organisms like MRSA are more likely to have longer and more expensive hospital stays, and may be more likely to die as a result of the infection. When the drug of choice for treating their infection doesn’t work, they require treatment with second- or third-choice medicines that may be less effective, more toxic and more expensive." According to CDC data, the proportion of infections that are antimicrobial resistant has been growing. In 1974, MRSA infections accounted for two percent of the total number of staph infections; in 1995 it was 22%; in 2004 it was some 63%.

The New England Journal of Medicine, April 28, 1994, reported that researchers have identified bacteria in patient samples that resist all currently available antibiotic drugs. The overuse of antibiotics has created super-resistant classes of bacteria that can resist antibiotics and evade our immune systems. This poses a serious threat to our health and has the medical profession very concerned.

In an article entitled "New Way To Stop Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Found" on Medical News Today, July 11, 2007, Catharine Paddock writes "The last decade has seen an unprecedented increase in antibiotic resistant bacteria to the point where almost every type of bacteria is now resistant, and they can cause deadly infections that are very difficult and expensive to treat." Researchers at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill think they have found a way to target and kill antibiotic resistant bacteria using a drug that is already approved as a treatment for bone loss.

What I find most disturbing in all this is reality that this predicament was avoidable and perhaps at one time even correctable. There is sufficient history, research and anecdotal information to strongly support colloidal silver as an effective first-line-of-defense against not only bacteria, but also fungi and viruses. As an antibiotic, silver kills over 650 disease causing organisms; resistant strains fail to develop and it is nontoxic. Silver is the best all-around germ fighter we have (Bio/Tech News, 1995). It is also reported that colloidal silver promoted major growth of bone, and accelerated the healing of injured tissues by over 50%. Dr. Becker discovered that "silver, profoundly stimulates healing in skin and other soft tissues in a way unlike any known natural process...”

So why did they stop using silver?