It is said that colloidal silver has remarkable antibacterial and antiviral capabilities. What makes the countless testimonials to silvers effectiveness particularly extraordinary is that true colloidal silver appears to only attack harmful bacteria and viruses, while leaving healthy flesh and helpful bacteria completely untouched and undamaged.

How can something possibly function so well as a broad spectrum antibiotic, while having none of the harmful side effects of prescription antibiotics? Richard Davies and Samuel Etris of the Silver Institute attempted to answer that very question when they published the monograph "The Development and Functions of Silver in Water Purification and Disease Control" in 1996. In that document, they describe the following three specific functions of silver that may explain its believed disease-fighting properties.

1. Silver is an Oxidation Catalyst.

Pure silver has the ability to absorb oxygen and act as a catalyst for oxidation. "Oxidation," generally speaking, is when a chemical loses electrons. When silver atoms come near harmful bacteria, the oxygen in the silver reacts with sulfhydryl groups that surround a bacterium's surface. In viruses, the oxygen may react with the hydrogen atoms, removing them to create water. Both of these reactions may render the harmful pathogens unable to "breathe," thus killing them quickly.

2. Silver Reacts with Bacterial Cell Membranes

The article claims that silver attaches directly the membranes of bacterial cells, which also inhibits several functions, including breathing. Etries and Davis theorize that this is because of how enzymes function. Enzymes need certain metals to be present in order to function properly. If a metal of a higher valance is introduced to the enzyme, it will replace the metals of a lower valance. When this happens, the enzyme stops functioning properly, and it adversely affects the bacterium. Silver may have a high enough valance to disrupt the functions of harmful bacteria, while having a low enough valance to not interfere with the functions of helpful bacteria.

3. Silver Binds with DNA

There have been studies, most notably by C.L. Fox and S.M. Modak, that suggest that silver binds directly to the DNA of harmful pathogens. Fox and Modak studied how silver reacted to the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa. They discovered that the bacterium's DNA bonded without about 12% of the silver it came in contact with. This would prevent the DNA from unwinding, which would therefore prevent the bacterium from multiplying.

What these three functions suggest is that silver can remove pathogens from the body quickly, effectively, and safely. Since they seem to only attack the pathogens themselves, true colloidal silver can be used with no side effects when taken in correct dosages.

Though silver has been used as a natural antibiotic for thousands of years, and numerous scientific studies starting the 1970's have documented its effectiveness in fighting disease-causing organisms, researches have only begun to scratch the surface on the relationship between colloidal silver and harmful pathogens.

Hopefully, as these studies continue, we can better understand why so many have testified to colloidal silver's effectiveness in fighting bacteria, viruses, and infectious fungi.