Colloidal Silver and the Cryptosporidium Threat

Earlier this year blaring news headlines warned parents to keep their children away from public swimming pools due to a dramatic increase in parasitic infections “tied to swimming pools and water parks.”

According to the news reports, the CDC reported on 32 separate outbreaks of the parasite Cryptosporidium – known as a “fecal-oral” parasite because it can be spread directly to people in public swimming pools if they swallow water that’s been exposed to other people’s feces.

Apparently, unlike E. coli which can only survive for a matter of minutes in a chlorine-treated pool, the Cryptosporidium parasite is so hardy – thanks to its hard protective shell in its “cyst” stage – it can survive up to 10 days in pools. In other words, even chlorine bleach doesn’t kill Cryptosporidium very easily. And there are no known effective drug treatments for the parasite once you’re infected.

But if you end up with a Cryptosporidium infection, will colloidal silver help? Here’s what we’ve found out…

Hi, Steve Barwick here, for The Silver Edge…

While many websites claim colloidal silver is effective against infections by the Cryptosporidium parasite, none of them provide clinical documentation to back up this contention. That’s because extremely little clinical research has been done to determine if silver is an effective remedy in humans or animals.

However, according to the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Technology Alliance (PITA), which is a university-industry partnership working in conjunction with Carnegie Mellon University, there’s a possibility that silver might be effective against Cryptosporidium.

Indeed, a 2008 project coordinated by the organization found that while the effects of silver on Cryptosporidium have not previously been studied, preliminary research conducted by PITA “has shown that silver holds promise as a disinfectant against Cryptosporidium.”

PITA goes on to state:

“If silver proves successful for disinfecting bacteria and chlorine-resistant microorganisms [i.e., cryptosporidium – ED] from drinking water supplies, the technology could prove useful for drinking water disinfection at the personal, household, and municipal levels.

This technology would be attractive to many different kinds of users as well, including outdoor enthusiasts, military personnel, water utilities, and rural citizens in developing countries.”

Unfortunately, there’s no further information on the PITA website discussing whether or not the aforementioned research proved fruitful. But the indication was that colloidal silver could be used to disinfect water supplies that had been contaminated with Cryptosporidium, which would further indicate that silver could be effective against Cryptosporidium in humans, as well.

Anecdotal Information

Indeed, there’s anecdotal evidence that this is true. In his book, “Death on a Fork and How to Avoid It,” author Gwynne Davies, a Clinical Ecologist with over 30 years in practice, writes that colloidal silver is one of the few natural treatments he’s found that works against Cryptosporidium infections in his patients. He states:

“One of the most serious gut problems is Cryptosporidium and in a lot of medical literature is referred to as ‘extremely difficult to cure’.

During my practice life I had several patients with this condition and they had been told to ‘live with it.’ It is recognized as an important cause of infection in both immune-compromised and otherwise healthy subjects. It can be a pathogen of life-threatening potential for AIDS patients…

…I came across an article on the revival of a centuries old remedy called colloidal silver. Soon afterwards an article by Simon Cave appeared in a national newspaper, “Could a silver drink beat all antibiotics?”…

…a solution containing one of our most highly prized metals, silver, is being heralded as the latest alternative to antibiotics. Research has shown that silver suspended in water kills virtually all bacteria, viruses or fungi – even if they are exposed to only minute traces of it…

…I first used colloidal silver, along with the elimination diet, and Lactobacillus acidophilus, on the aforementioned patients with cryptosporidium.

They began to feel better within days and subsequent visits to the hospital for fecal testing showed no sign of the disease…

…I can honestly say that with the many patients I have prescribed this colloidal silver, not one adverse comment has been made – only wonderment at how effective it is – and, what is more, it’s not expensive. I would recommend everyone keep a bottle of it in the medicine cupboard.”

So this clinical professional used diet (i.e., eliminating foods that can cause digestive reactions), plus treatment with probiotic supplements (i.e., Lactobacillus acidophilus) and daily doses of colloidal silver to treat Cryptosporidium infections in his immune-compromised patients, and apparently with great success!

According to an online article often attributed to cancer research Dr. Gary Smith, “Naturopaths and chiropractors use colloidal silver to treat the effects of Cryptosporidium.”

More evidence: A company called Bio Penta Labs, which distributes a product for swimming pools called My Natural Pool which contains colloidal silver and colloidal copper, claims on its website:

“Cryptosporidium is a nasty and dangerous bacteria that has six life cycles or stages. In stages 2 and 5 Crypto has a hard shell that even pure chlorine will not kill.

For this reason it is a major threat to drinking water and people in swimming pools and water parks…It may be circumstantial, but Cryptosporidium has never been reported in swimming pools treated with My Natural Pool™.”

In other words, swimming pools that are disinfected with colloidal silver and colloidal copper don’t appear to end up with Cryptosporidium outbreaks! Of course, colloidal copper is mostly used to stop algae growth. So the silver appears to be the disinfectant factor stopping the Cryptosporidium.

In a book from an Australian author titled Macropod Husbandry, Healthcare and Medicinals, written for people who raise Kangaroos and other marsupials, under the subject of treating such animals for Cryptosporidium infections, the author wrote, “Colloidal silver is the best ‘harmless’ anti-bacterial to use, as it may also kill protozoa and parasites.”

So people who raise animals apparently use colloidal silver as a treatment for Cryptosporidium infections in their animals.

Laboratory Studies

While the anecdotal information for silver’s effectiveness against Cryptosporidium might seem to be a little bit sketchy, at best, things get more interesting when you examine the clinical lab studies in regards to silver’s ability to disinfect water of Cryptosporidium.

For example, according to an abstract from a clinical study titled Water Disinfection Using Silver and Copper Ions and Colloidal Gold by the Institute of Nuclear Physics, in Ulugbek, Tashkent, Usbekistan, and published in Modern Tools and Methods of Water Treatment for Improving Living Standards NATO Science Series, Volume 48, 2005, pp 159-166:

“The efficacy of using Ag+ and Cu² metal ions and colloidal Au combinations (within limits of current drinking water regulations) for killing Tyhphoid-Paratyphoid, Legionella pneumophila, Salmonella, Vibrio cholera asiaticea, Lamblia intestinalis, Cryptosporidium parvum, etc. has been examined.

Tests carried out in various laboratories during 1998-2003 have shown the dependence of bacteria killing time on metal ion concentration, initial bacteria concentration, and the influence of concentration of various ions on the disinfection process.”

In other words, Cryptosporidium and other serious water-borne pathogens are indeed killed by silver ions, copper ions and gold ions when they’re leached into the water supply. But the effectiveness of these metallic ions depends upon the severity of the concentration of the pathogens, as well as the amount of metallic ions leached into the water.

Of course, that’s true with any antimicrobial substance. An antibiotic drug, for example, won’t work against your infection if you only take a quarter of the dose necessary to kill pathogens. You have to take the full dose in order to get the best results. And you might have to take larger doses if you have a more severe pathogenic infection. Metallic ions are no different.

More importantly, according to a 2016 study published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology, and titled “Silver Nanoparticles Decrease the Viability of Cryptosporidium parvum Oocysts,” researchers studied the effects of silver nanoparticles and silver ions against the thick-walled oocysts of Cryptosporidium – the most difficult-to-kill stage in the parasite’s life-cycle.

Their goal was to determine if silver could be used for disinfection of drinking water contaminated with the hard-shelled Cryptosporidium cysts. They wrote:

“Recently, numerous studies established that silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are highly toxic to bacteria and fungi and that this toxicity is often associated with ion release and induction of oxidative stress…

Since Cryptosporidium parvum has previously shown sensitivity to oxidative stress, we sought to determine the effect of silver nanoparticles on oocyst viability. At the time that we undertook our study, no previous work had investigated the impact of nanoparticles on waterborne protozoan pathogens…

Our work assesses the dose dependence of nanoparticle action on waterborne protozoan pathogens and additionally ascertains whether silver nanoparticles have any effect on the viability of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts and whether this effect is due to the presence of Ag ions, the nanoparticles, or a combination of both. 

“Oocysts of the waterborne protozoan parasite Cryptosporidium parvum are highly resistant to chlorine disinfection. We show here that both silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and silver ions significantly decrease oocyst viability, in a dose-dependent manner, between concentrations of 0.005 and 500 μg/ml…

The results presented here confirm that silver nanoparticles and silver ions are toxic to the waterborne protozoan pathogen Cryptosporidium, and they quantify the dose dependence of this effect.”

In other words, the researchers wanted to see if silver nanoparticles would disrupt the lifecycle of Cryptosporidium during the oocyst stage – the stage that even chlorine bleach and iodine can’t kill. And compared to untreated controls, silver nanoparticles in concentrations between 5 ppm and 500 ppm were tested, and were found to destroy the Cryptosporidium cysts in a dose-dependent matter, meaning the stronger the colloidal silver suspension, the better the effect against the cysts in water.

This is very good news overall because it demonstrates silver to be effective against the most difficult-to-kill stage of the Cryptosporidium parasite – the hard-shelled oocyst stage which, as I mentioned earlier, resists both chlorine bleach and iodine (the two most commonly used water disinfectants), as well as freezing temperatures.

An Animal Study

In a clinical study published in Environmental Science & Technology in 2015, researchers were able to demonstrate that Cryptosporidium oocysts treated with silver nitrate and protein-capped silver nanoparticles (i.e., essentially silver ions and mild silver protein) were less able to infect mice than non-treated Cryptosporidium oocysts. They wrote:

“…treatment of oocysts with silver nitrate and proteinate-capped silver nanoparticles resulted in decreased infection relative to untreated oocysts

…proteinate-capped silver-nanoparticle treatment of oocysts resulted in morphological modifications and decreased excystation rates of sporozoites.”

In other words, when lab mice were fed the silver-treated Cryptosporidium oocysts in their drinking water, fewer of the mice became infected than lab mice given Cryptosporidium oocysts that had not been silver-treated.

The researchers discovered that the silver treatment damaged the hard outer shell of the Cryptosporidium oocysts to such a degree they were far less able to release spores that would otherwise result in further infection!

Finally, according to a study published in the journal Water, and titled “Performance and Acceptance of Novel Silver-Impregnated Ceramic Cubes for Drinking Water Treatment,” the study authors wrote:

“Silver ions are effective against bacteria and protozoa; furthermore, they are more effective than chlorine against Cryptosporidium. Viruses and helminthes are also susceptible to silver ions. Silver, at safe yet effective concentrations, imparts no taste or color to the treated water.”

Human Studies?

Although the mouse study mentioned above is clearly promising in regards to the use of silver against the Cryptosporidium parasite, I’ve unfortunately not been able to find any human studies testing silver against Cryptosporidium infection.

Since medical science quite literally has no known effective drug treatment against Cryptosporidium, and since Cryptosporidium infections now represent a clear and ever-present public health threat, it seems obvious that human studies should be the next step in the evolution of vital information on this topic.

Will the medical community ever get around to it? Probably not. After all, even when clinical test tube studies demonstrate silver’s effectiveness against some of the most crippling super-pathogens – including MRSA, Pseudomonas, CRE pathogens and others – the medical community never seems to get around to doing human studies.

That, unfortunately, leaves it to people like you and me to simply try colloidal silver when we end up with an infection, and see for ourselves if it works.

Thousands of experiential accounts have demonstrated colloidal silver to be highly effective against a wide variety of stomach and intestinal infections – everything ranging from food poisoning to H. pylori infections and ulcers to the so-called “winter vomiting virus” (i.e., norovirus) to Crohn’s disease to interstitial cystitis to inflammatory bowel disease to an astonishing array of other stomach and intestinal infections.

It would not surprise me in the least if colloidal silver turns out to be, as clinical ecologist Gwynne Davies found, one of the most effective natural ways to help the human body overcome a Cryptosporidium infection, as well.

One Final Important Thought…

If you’re new to colloidal silver usage and are wondering where to buy it, it’s important to know that you can find it in just about any well-stocked health food store in America. But it can be extremely expensive.

In fact, because it works so well against numerous forms of infection and disease, colloidal silver has the highest price mark-up of any nutritional supplement in existence.

The amount of actual silver in a four-ounce bottle of colloidal silver is about five to 12 cents worth.  (Yes, I said five to twelve cents.)  Yet the manufacturers mark that up about 60,000%, charging a whopping $20 or $30 per bottle.

People are willing to pay through the nose for colloidal silver at health food stores because it heals infections and prevents the spread of germs and disease faster and better than anything else on the planet. And because it’s safe and completely natural, to boot!

So, commercially speaking, the retail price of colloidal silver at health food stores reflects its value to the consumer far more so than its true cost to produce. But here’s the good news:

With a brand new Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator from The Silver Edge, you can make your own safe, pure, high-quality micro-particle colloidal silver for about 36 cents a quart! In other words, you can make it actual cost.

Compared to typical health food store prices of $20 to $30 for a tiny 4-oz. bottle, the very first one-quart batch you make literally pays for the entire cost of your new generator!

Do you know of any other health product that literally pays for itself the very first time you use it? The savings are absolutely astonishing!

As Close to FREE Colloidal Silver
As You Can Come, For the Rest of Your Life

In fact, by making your own high-quality colloidal silver with a brand new Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator from The Silver Edge, you’ll be as close to having FREE colloidal silver as you can get, and for the rest of your life!

You’ll never have to pay those exorbitant health food store prices again!

The new Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator is now the world’s #1 best-selling colloidal silver generator. Here are just a few reasons why you should own one…

• It pays for itself after your very first batch – your total cost to make your first quart is about 36 cents, compared to the $240 you’d pay at a health food store if you bought an equivalent amount (i.e., eight of those little 4-ounce bottles they normally sell for $30 apiece)!

• Safe, simple to operate…No special skills needed…You just set the handy timer, plug it in, walk away, and three hours later you have a perfect batch of therapeutic quality micro-particle colloidal silver…every time!  Here’s a short pictorial demonstrating how astonishingly easy it is to use a new Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator from The Silver Edge:

• Produces uncommonly small silver micro-particles as low as .8 nm. That’s a fraction of a single nanometer. Compare that to health food store colloidal silver which can contain silver particles as large as 200 nm to 1,000 nm (or even larger), and you’ll see why micro-particle colloidal silver is the very best there is!  Smaller particles mean your body can absorb and utilize up to 99% of the colloidal silver you take, compared to maybe 40% or 50% with many health food store brands!

• Runs on standard household electricity, but uses less power than a tiny Christmas tree bulb – you won’t even see a blip on your electric bill!

• Produces uniform, crystal clear batches every single time that store for months, or even years, without losing potency!

• Cannot produce silver chloride or unsafe substances – you get pure, therapeutic-quality micro-particle colloidal silver every time!

Just read through some of the testimonials below to see for yourself how you’ll save literally thousands of dollars per year by making your own colloidal silver with your brand new Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator from The Silver Edge!

Customer Testimonials

Here’s what one customer recently wrote to tell us:

“Owning a Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator from The Silver Edge has given us the luxury of being able to use high-quality colloidal silver any time we need it.  And we never have to worry about the costs because it only costs a few pennies per quart to make!  It is without a doubt the single-best money-saving appliance in my entire house!

Best of all, the machine is very easy to use, and easy to store. I was concerned about ease-of-use, but my fears were unfounded. After I got mine and used it, I immediately bought one and sent it to my 83 year old mom, and she uses it regularly as well.

Now that I have a Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator, I can use colloidal silver for everything – disinfecting the kitchen sinks, countertops, and the cutting board… spraying the toilet bowls, and the bathroom countertops and sinks… spraying it on my toothbrush to prevent bacterial growth…rinsing my mouth with it to prevent cavities and gum disease…you name it.

I even put it in the laundry rinse cycle when I do my linens, towels and kitchen rags, so I don’t have to wash them as frequently. It really keeps them fresh, and there’s never any mold or mildew anywhere in our house.

I also put some in the cat’s water bowl each day, and the dog’s too.  We use it in the bathtub for skin problems.  And of course we drink it when our tummies are queasy, or when we feel a cold or flu coming on.  We also gargle with it in order to get rid of sore throats, and sniff it up our noses to get rid of sinus problems.

My husband even sprays it on his hair in the mornings, and has completely eliminated his lifelong dandruff problem.  And he sprays a little bit in his eyes from time to time, and now has no more recurrent problems with sties.”

– K. Sullivan, NM

And here’s what another happy customer wrote to say about the tremendous savings she’s achieved by no longer having to purchase her colloidal silver through health food stores:

“We make a quart of colloidal silver at least once a week with the Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator from the Silver Edge. I finally sat down and figured out how much this machine has been saving us. By making our own colloidal silver we’ve saved $11,503.20 this year alone, compared to the cost of colloidal silver at our local health food store. 

The cost for colloidal silver at our local health food store is $30 for a tiny four-ounce bottle. But with my Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator, I can make eight times that amount (i.e., a full quart) for about 35 cents total cost.

If I were to purchase a quart of colloidal silver at the health food store, which would be eight of those tiny, four-ounce bottles, the cost would be a whopping $240 (i.e., 8 x $30 = $240) compared to the 35 cents I now spend to make a full quart! 

Here’s the breakdown of our costs to make a full quart of colloidal silver with our Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator:

It costs us about a dollar for a gallon of steam-distilled water at Walmart. So a quart of the steam-distilled water costs about 25 cents.

And I estimate we use maybe a nickel’s worth of electricity and maybe another nickel’s worth of silver from the silver rods for every one-quart batch of colloidal silver we make. So that’s 35 cents a quart, all told, for each quart of micro-particle colloidal silver we make!

And frankly, considering how long the .9999 fine silver rods have lasted (over a year and a half, so far, for the most recent set), I think it’s probably even cheaper than that. But it’s the lifetime savings we’ve experienced that’s just mind-boggling to me.

For example, we’ve had our Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver unit for nearly five years now. And as I mentioned we make one quart per week, and we spend about 35 cents a week on making colloidal silver.

This means we save about $239.65 a week by not having to purchase a quart’s worth of colloidal silver at our local health food store. So do the math: In just one month, the savings is $958.60…in one year, the savings is $11,503.20…and in five years we’ve saved approximately $57,516.00!

When you put pencil to paper and figure it out, it definitely takes you by surprise. You just think ‘No way. I must have multiplied that wrong.’

But it’s true. The savings is legitimately well over $11,000 a year over health food store prices for colloidal silver, if you make and use a quart of colloidal silver a week like we do! And we reap that incredible savings from the very reasonable $250 investment we made in purchasing our Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator.

In their advertising literature, The Silver Edge says the unit completely pays for itself after your first couple of one-quart batches. But really, that’s quite an understatement when you realize the true extent of your savings!

Of course, once you start making your own colloidal silver with a Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator from The Silver Edge, you don’t really think about how much you’re saving compared to health food store prices, because it just becomes a normal part of your everyday life. But the savings is nevertheless astonishing when you reflect on it.

What’s especially nice is being able to produce a significantly higher-quality colloidal silver than what’s generally available to the public through health food stores, especially at such a tiny, tiny fraction of the cost.”
– Marie Wilkey, SC

The Bottom Line…

With a high-quality Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator from The Silver Edge, you’ll never again have to pay exorbitant health food store or internet vendor prices for high-quality colloidal silver!

Indeed, your first batch or two will indeed completely pay for the entire cost of your generator, compared to health food store prices!

What’s more, you’ll be able to give colloidal silver away FREE to family members, friends and neighbors, because you’ll be making it – literally – for only a few pennies per batch!

Simply click on this link to learn more about this phenomenal new breakthrough in colloidal silver-making technology, including our current, time-limited, money-saving offers that can save you up to $100 if you act quickly and decisively!

Meanwhile, I’ll be back next week with another insightful article on colloidal silver….

Yours for the safe, sane and responsible use of colloidal silver,

Steve Barwick, author
The Ultimate Colloidal Silver Manual

Helpful Links:

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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.

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