Colloidal Silver and Airborne MRSA Pathogens (September 25, 2012)

Colloidal Silver and Airborne MRSA Pathogens

It’s now been demonstrated in hospital studies that the deadly MRSA pathogen can go airborne and colonize people’s nasal passages and lungs through the airborne route, causing infection and disease.

This means, if a family member were to have a MRSA infection, the pathogen could go airborne in the home, and other family members could be in danger of getting the same infection simply by breathing.

So, is there a simple and effective way to use colloidal silver in the home to combat this problem? Indeed there is, and you can read about it in this article…

Hi, Steve Barwick here, for The Silver Edge…

More people die each year in the U.S. from MRSA infections than die of AIDS. Indeed, some 94,000 deaths each year are attributed to the MRSA pathogen.

But previously, it was thought that MRSA can only be transmitted by touch, i.e., either by person-to-person touching, or when a contaminated person touches a doorknob or a shopping cart handle, and then you later touch the same object.

Because of this erroneous assumption, most work to stop the spread of MRSA in public places like hospitals, schools, gymnasiums and others has centered chiefly around the disinfection of touch surfaces, which is to say, disinfecting door knobs, chairs, desks, tables, and other objects the MRSA pathogen can be found colonizing.

Indeed, the touch surfaces of entire hospital wards, school classrooms, gyms, prison cell blocks and other public facilities have been thoroughly disinfected with topical disinfectants after MRSA outbreaks.

Is MRSA Airborne?

But the dirty little secret the health and medical authorities are apparently trying to avoid letting you know is this:

As far back as 2001, clinical researchers discovered that MRSA can easily become airborne and infect people by lodging in the nasal passages and lungs after it’s breathed in.

In fact, a study published in the Archives of Otolaryngol Head and Neck Surgery demonstrates that MRSA was very easily spread among patients in a hospital through the airborne route, and may be responsible for many cases of hospital-borne MRSA infections.

According to the study authors:

“Methicillin-resistant S aureus was re-circulated among the patients, the air, and the inanimate environments, especially when there was movement in the rooms.

Airborne MRSA may play a role in MRSA colonization in the nasal cavity or in respiratory tract MRSA infections.

Measures should be taken to prevent the spread of airborne MRSA to control nosocomial MRSA infection in hospitals.”

In other words, as long as everything was perfectly still in the hospital rooms, MRSA didn’t go airborne.

But as soon as there was significant movement in the hospital rooms — such as the changing of bed sheets, or the moving of hospital equipment, or dusting and cleaning — the MRSA pathogens easily went airborne, and were carried throughout the hospital room on the ambient air currents.

Indeed, the study states: “…clinical isolates of MRSA in our ward were of one origin, and the isolates from the air and from inanimate environments were identical to the MRSA strains that caused infection or colonization in the in-patients.”

Yes, the study found that the exact same MRSA strains found to be airborne were also found to be colonizing the nasal passages and lungs of the hospital patients.

According to the study authors, this strongly suggests the patients were being contaminated with MRSA via the airborne route.

MRSA Levels 50 Times Higher

What’s more, the researchers found that airborne samples of MRSA and other bacteria increased a staggering 50 times over in hospital rooms when the air was sampled directly after bed sheets were changed.

According to the study authors:

“This suggests that airborne MRSA may play a role in MRSA colonization in the nasal cavity or in respiratory MRSA infections.

When medical staff were present in the rooms of patients, the number of CFU of MRSA increased in and around the rooms.

This indicates that MRSA on surface environments spreads during periods of movement, such as when bed sheets are changed in hospitals.”

CFU means “colony forming units.” In other words, whenever there was movement in a hospital room, such as hospital staff changing bed sheets, MRSA was spread throughout the room and began colonizing additional areas of the room.

Known Since 1998

Indeed, one 1998 study published in the Journal of Hospital Infections was titled “Ventilation grilles as a potential source of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus causing an outbreak in an orthopaedic ward at a district general hospital.”

Apparently, the newly airborne MRSA pathogens can even colonize the ventilation grilles in hospital rooms, and literally be spread further throughout the rooms whenever the heat or air conditioning comes on – even enough to cause an outbreak of MRSA infections!

Also Spread By Coughing

The researchers in the 2001 hospital study went on to state:

“…In this study, we confirmed that MRSA could be acquired by medical staff and patients through airborne transmission.

The findings suggest the importance of protecting patients against cross-infectious agents existing in aerosols.”

“Aerosols” means tiny drops of liquid that are airborne. Translation: Even coughing can spread the MRSA pathogen to others once a patient’s nasal cavities or lungs have been infected through the airborne route.

Finally, the study authors pointed out that as far back as 1998 it was already thought by some researchers that MRSA could be spread by coughing:

“MRSA in the form of a bio-aerosol can contaminate the air and cause airborne infectious diseases.”

“Bio-aerosol” simply means liquid droplets in the air that come from a
human body. Again, it’s just a ten dollar medical term for coughing.

So to summarize: the pathogen becomes airborne when hospital staff begin moving things around in a hospital room.

Then it colonizes other areas of the hospital room and also lodges in the nasal cavities and lungs of the patients.

And from there it can be further spread throughout the hospital room and to other patients or medical staff simply by coughing.

Of course, what can happen in a hospital room can happen in a home just as easily. This may well be one reason why MRSA infections that occur in the home – often referred to as “community acquired MRSA — tend to be spread to other family members.

If for example a family member were to have a MRSA infection and precautions aren’t taken during the changing of bed sheets, the MRSA pathogen can go airborne in the home and potentially contaminate other areas of the home and infect other family members.

Colloidal Silver to the Rescue?

Of course, it’s been amply demonstrated in in vitro laboratory studies that colloidal silver literally decimates the MRSA pathogen.

I’ve reported on this multiple times. And the Colloidal Silver Cures MRSA website documents a number of these little-known clinical studies in detail.

What’s more, real-life anecdotal accounts from MRSA victims who have used colloidal silver after prescriptions antibiotics failed them further demonstrate the astonishing effectiveness of colloidal silver against MRSA.

You can read about some of these dramatic real-life accounts in one of my previous articles, titled Does Colloidal Silver Really Kill MRSA?

And you can read additional real-life accounts of colloidal silver being used to cure MRSA infections at the Colloidal Silver Success Stories website.

So with MRSA being so rampant in public facilities such as hospitals, schools, prisons, gyms and more, why isn’t colloidal silver used more often in efforts to keep the populations of this deadly pathogen down to controllable levels?

And with such a stunningly high national death rate from MRSA infections here in the U.S., why isn’t colloidal silver being used to treat patients who come down with MRSA infections?

Only the doctors, hospitals and other public facilities where MRSA has proven to be a problem can answer that question.

But I suspect it has a lot to do with the powerful influence of Big Pharma over doctors, hospitals and the health and medical policies of public institutions.

The $250,000 Colloidal Silver Machine

Interestingly, as reported on the Colloidal Silver Cures MRSA website, at least one British hospital seems to be catching on to the idea of using antimicrobial silver against MRSA, and also seems to understand that often MRSA is spread via the airborne route.

According to another British newspaper, The Sun, a $250,000 machine has been developed to spray a special aerosol silver mist throughout British hospitals, in order to stop the spread of the deadly MRSA super pathogens. The newspaper reveals:

“Experts have long known silver is deadly to the superbug and is highly toxic to some other bacteria as well. It is already used in plasters and hospital dressings.

But now medics from Leicester University have created a generator that divides pieces of silver into billions of tiny particles. It then suspends them in liquid glycerol to be put into aerosols.

The particles are small enough to pass inside bacteria but do not kill human cells. The $250,000 machine’s inventor, Professor Chris Binns, said medical trials will start within the year.”

Wow. A whopping $250,000 for a machine to spray a fine mist of aerosolized silver through a hospital?

The Cool Mist Vaporizer Trick!

You’d think it would be a LOT cheaper to put a simple $40 cool mist vaporizer from Walmart or Walgreen’s drug store (see photo at top of article) into each hospital room, and simply fill it with colloidal silver and turn it on, allowing the fine vaporized mist of colloidal silver to spread throughout the room.

In light of the above study, this would be particularly valuable in hospitals while nurses are changing sheets and bedding, or while cleaning personnel are moving things around in the patient care rooms.

Indeed, in my own home whenever there’s illness or infection, I frequently fill an inexpensive cool mist vaporizer with homemade colloidal silver, and let it run for 20 or 30 minutes several times a day, allowing the fine colloidal silver mist to spread on the ambient air throughout the room or even the entire household.

Why? Because I recognize the importance of keeping the spread of the pathogens strictly limited, so others family members are not infected.

But of course, that’s just common sense. There are no clinical studies demonstrating that running a cool mist vaporizer filled with colloidal silver in a hospital room, or in the home for that matter, will kill airborne pathogens such as MRSA and others, and keep infection or disease from spreading.

But every clinical study I’ve seen that’s been conducted on antimicrobial silver and its effect on MRSA has demonstrated that the silver literally wipes out the MRSA pathogen with ease! So it stands to reason the “cool mist vaporizer trick” would work.

And until the clinical studies are performed, and the idea of using a cool mist vaporizer filled with colloidal silver is proven to be either effective or ineffective, I think I’ll stick with common sense and run the machine – particularly in light of these studies demonstrating that MRSA can so easily become airborne.

Make Your Own Colloidal Silver for Pennies!

Of course, it’s awfully darned expensive to fill a cool mist vaporizer with a commercial brand of colloidal silver.

After all, commercial brands of colloidal silver can cost anywhere from $20 to $40 for a tiny four-ounce bottle. And the reservoir in a cool mist vapor can hold a quart or two of liquid, depending upon the size of the vaporizer.

That’s a total of anywhere from eight to sixteen bottles of store-bought colloidal silver – obviously a very expensive proposition!

But if you make your own colloidal silver with high-quality Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator from The Silver Edge, you can literally make gallons of antimicrobial colloidal silver at a time for just a few pennies per batch (see video here)!

So you never have to worry about cost, and you’ll always have all of the colloidal silver you could possibly need on hand for situations like those described in this article.

If you’d like to learn more about making and using colloidal silver, just click the link. Meanwhile, I’ll be back next week with another helpful and insightful article…

Yours for the safe, sane and responsible use of colloidal silver,
Steve Barwick Signature
Steve Barwick, author
The Ultimate Colloidal Silver Manual

Helpful Links:

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Make Your Own Colloidal Silver for Pennies
.999 Pure Silver Wire for Making Colloidal Silver
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Videos on Making and Using Colloidal Silver
Real-Life Colloidal Silver Success Stories
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The Ultimate Colloidal Silver Manual
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Colloidal Silver Cures MRSA
Colloidal Silver Kills Viruses
Colloidal Silver Secrets blog
Meet Steve Barwick

Important Note and Disclaimer: The contents of this Ezine have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Information conveyed herein is from sources deemed to be accurate and reliable, but no guarantee can be made in regards to the accuracy and reliability thereof. The author, Steve Barwick, is a natural health journalist with over 30 years of experience writing professionally about natural health topics. He is not a doctor. Therefore, nothing stated in this Ezine should be construed as prescriptive in nature, nor is any part of this Ezine meant to be considered a substitute for professional medical advice. Nothing reported herein is intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. The author is simply reporting in journalistic fashion what he has learned during the past 17 years of journalistic research into colloidal silver and its usage. Therefore, the information and data presented should be considered for informational purposes only, and approached with caution. Readers should verify for themselves, and to their own satisfaction, from other knowledgeable sources such as their doctor, the accuracy and reliability of all reports, ideas, conclusions, comments and opinions stated herein. All important health care decisions should be made under the guidance and direction of a legitimate, knowledgeable and experienced health care professional. Readers are solely responsible for their choices. The author and publisher disclaim responsibility and/or liability for any loss or hardship that may be incurred as a result of the use or application of any information included in this Ezine.