Copper Kills Hospital Superbugs

Jewelry Discussion
21 
Would the use of this type of system mean that a spa or swimming
pool would not need the addition of chlorine?

Yes. In fact, I have a swimming pool that has never been treated
with chlorine in over 20 years. It runs on an ionized copper system.
After the water is filtered, it goes through a set of large copper
electrodes. The water is very pure and doesn’t make your eyes water
but, after so many years, the white tiles have a clear greenish-blue
cast (quite attractive, in my opinion). The system is also rather
specialized. I just love it.

I have also heard of oxygen systems for pools, but I can’t comment.

(I did expect my first post to be about, well, jewelry, but as long
as this is helpful to someone…)

22

Kim, what do you mean when you say that your ‘doctor’ recommended
colloidal silver? Colloidal silver is a quack cure without proven
benefit or results of any kind, other than the ability to
permanently turn your skin a lovely deep blue color. You might want
to reference an actual medical doctor for your treatment options, and
avoid those who sell fake medicine simply to raise money for a
’health food’ or ‘holistic healing’ outlet. The fact that you didn’t
get sick while you were taking this concoction in no way proves that
it had any effect on you, unless you were in a state of constant
illness until you started to take it.

Lee

23 
Although there are always some exceptions to the rule. So, I say
we all just work with silver and while doing that we ingest/inhale
enough dust just to keep the winter crud away.

Today, I had contact with a Neurologist at UCLA, whose work was
written about in yesterday’s San Diego Union Tribune. His specialty
is Brain Demyelinating. This is of great interest to me, as about a
year ago, I was given that diagnosis. Also probable MS. Scared me,
and I pursued this intensively. A Spinal Tap ruled out MS, but the
diagnosis remains.

In conversation with this doctor, he learned about my jewelry making,
and specifically told me I was to avoid breathing in silver dust. I
do not want to further disable my brain and will carefully follow his
advice. Probably while soldering as well. Ingesting silver in liquid,
may be quite different than inhaling silver dust.

Hugs,
Terrie

24

I can’t speak for Kim, but one of my medical doctors recommended
colloidal silver for helping to battle the common cold. He has an
MD. He did not sell me the colloidal silver, didn’t even suggest
brands, or where I should purchase it from, so he had no financial
stake in making that recommendation.

I agree that there are quacks in every field, but this doctor is not
one of them.

25

I’ve heard of colloidal silver, but knew nothing of it till I
looked. Below is a significant passage from Wikipedia (which has a
wealth of btw). I won’t go on a rant about people
taking folk remedies, being guinea pigs for crackpot supplements,
and poisoning themselves with unknown chemicals, though I could, for
days… I’m too lazy to edit away all the links, plus some might
actually use them…

  Colloidal silver products are legally available at health food
  stores in the United States and Australia and are marketed over
  the Internet as a dietary supplement. It is illegal in the U.S.
  and Australia for marketers to make claims of medical
  effectiveness for colloidal silver, but some websites still
  list its use for the prevention of colds and flu, and the
  treatment of more serious conditions such as diabetes, cancer,
  chronic fatigue syndrome, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis, among
  other diseases. Colloidal silver has been found to lack any
  antimicrobial effect, and there is no medical evidence that
  colloidal silver is effective for any of these claimed
  indications. Silver is not an essential mineral in humans;
  there is no dietary requirement for silver, and no such thing
  as a silver "deficiency". 

  Currently, there are no evidence-based medical uses for
  colloidal silver. There are no clinical studies in humans
  demonstrating effectivness, and several reports of toxicity.
  The U.S. National Center for Complementary and Alternative
  Medicine has issued an advisory indicating that the marketing
  claims made about colloidal silver are scientifically
  unsupported, and that the silver content of marketed
  supplements varies widely and can pose risks to the consumer.
26

Colloidal silver that is not made form silver salts will not turn you
blue. You have to use the kind that is electrically charged you will
not turn blue. The stuff made from silver salt will give you argyria
(blue skin) due to the size of the silver particles, the body cant
absorb it and it collects under the skin.

Susan
www.ThorntonStudioJewelry.com

27

Hi, Everybody, it’s time for another short lesson in medical history
and pharmacology.

For eons maternal gonorrhea was transmitted to babies during birth,
causing ophthalmia neonatorum and resulting in some 10 to 12% of the
world’s blindness. A very big deal! In the mid-nineteenth century a
physician (as I recall in Vienna) introduced a new routine
procedure. After the baby’s first bath, with care that bathwater did
not get in the eyes, one drop of 2% silver nitrate was instilled into
each eye, then washed out. The result was almost total elimination of
the ophthalmia/blindness problem in his hospital. The method was
widely adopted and carried his name, The Crede Prodedure, and was
mandated by law in the USA.

Crede was standard when I was in medical school and internship.

Silver nitrate is a true chemical poison and simply wipes out the
bacteria. There were rare cases of chemical burns from too many
drops, waiting too long before washing it out and, perhaps, from too
strong a solution. It was remarkable, however, and the bugs never
developed a resistance.

Then penicillin came along, effectively killing the bugs and not
able to burn the tissue. Political pressures built up and many laws
were changed to allow antibiotic drops to replace the silver nitrate.

But penicillin is not a chemical poison and bugs are smart. Before
long there were penicillin resistant strains of the gonococcus and
we lost our grip on some 120 years of progress! When I was in the
Army in 1968 I took care of a newborn who had gonorrheal corneal
ulcers in both eyes-sadly we lost that battle!

All this is to point out that there is a very long history of a
silver salt as an important therapeutic agent. In a much weaker
concentration silver nitrate (I think 0.5%) was a highly respected
over the counter remedy known as Argerol. It was popular for pink
eye, colds, sore throats, etc. We would occasionally see a patient
who used Argerol eye drops “all the time” and had argerosis, the
steely-blue discoloration on the inside of the eye lids.

Colloidal silver is something entirely different. Heaven only knows
what’s in the preparations on the market, but to qualify as a
colloid they should contain submicroscopic metallic silver particles
suspended in whatever liquid they have chosen. In contrast to
colloidal gold, which does have a medicinal history, I’m not aware of
any established therapeutic benefit of colloidal silver.

Copper, of course is well known to have some toxic effects. Because
of it’s lovely color and great thermal-conductivity it has been
popular for cooking pots. However, the toxic effects of too much
copper in food generated a whole industry. I’ll bet Helen could give
us some of the colorful history of TINNERS in old England.

Stay well,
Dr. Mac

28 
After the baby's first bath, with care that bathwater did not get
in the eyes, one drop of 2% silver nitrate was instilled into each
eye, then washed out. The result was almost total elimination of
the ophthalmia/blindness problem in this hospital.

And there’s silver sulfadiazine, a good prescription topical for
garden-variety burns. Overuse can result in argyria, though.

If you use the Medline search engine at the US National Library of
Medicine, you can learn that numerous metals have antibiotic
properties. The trouble is that, like just about any substance, in
large enough doses they can cause other health problems, even kill
the patient.

Lorraine

29

While we are off track here, I thought I would interject my 2 cents
worth. I came across an interesting tid bit in the medical
literature today.

extracted from:Silver-Coated Endotracheal Tubes and Incidence of
Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia in Hollef MH, Afessa B, Anzueto A, et
al JAMA. 2008;300:805-813

Ventilator-associated pneumonia developed in 4.8% of patients
with a silver-coated tube, compared to 7.5% of patients with a
traditional tube (P =.03). Furthermore, the onset of pneumonia
was significantly delayed in patients intubated with a
silver-coated tube (P =.005).... 

Silver, which is often used for the management of burns, is
considered nontoxic, and has a substantial antimicrobial effect.
In this study, there were measurable benefits and no discernable
side effects from the use of silver-coated tubes....

This is new evidence of the merits of silver.

Marlin