Upper respiratory tract infection, or URTI, strikes an estimated one billion times every year in the United States alone. That is more than three cases for every U. S. resident. It is an illness that is caused by any kind of infection of upper respiratory tract, that is, the nose, sinuses, and larynx.

Typically, doctors will treat upper respiratory tract infection with prescription antibiotics. According to the 2005 article "Antibiotics for acute laryngitis in adults" published in The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, antibiotics are ineffective for the treatment of laryngitis, a kind of respiratory tract infection.

The summary states that the few benefits that do exist for the prescription of antibiotics for laryngitis are " not relevant in clinical practice as the modest benefits from antibiotics may not outweigh their cost, adverse effects, or negative consequences on antibiotic resistance patterns." The "adverse affects" referred to in the article are the many unpleasant side effects of antibiotics, which include diarrhea, fever, nausea, interactions with drugs, a weakened immune system, and fungal infection.

Many have found benefit in the use of colloidal silver for the treatment of upper respiratory tract infection. Colloidal silver is a solution of microscopic particles of silver suspended in water. Almost every major civilization with access to silver have used the metal for its germ fighting capabilities, and modern hospitals harness it too in the form of water filters, antibacterial bandages, and antibacterial creams.

Colloidal silver is believed to work by essentially "choking" harmful bacterial cells. When silver comes into the proximity of harmful bacteria, it disrupts an enzyme that it needs in order to process oxygen properly. Without oxygen, the bacteria quickly die. Colloidal silver is thought to be able to kill harmful bacteria while leaving healthy tissue and cells untouched because cells that are natural to the body have a much thicker cell wall than bacteria cells.

Colloidal silver can be taken many ways, but as a treatment for upper respiratory tract infection most users of colloidal silver claim the most success through the use of a nebulizer. A nebulizer is a medical device that pumps air into a liquid and turns it into a fine mist for inhaling. Inhaling the colloidal silver directly into the lungs will apply the product directly the infected area, which is believed to reduce the amount of time needed for a successful treatment. Some who suffer from reoccurring sinus infections choose to regularly use the nebulizer even after the infection has subsided to support their immune system.

Anyone who wishes to take colloidal silver as a treatment for a upper respiratory tract infection should be aware that different silver products can have varying levels of effectiveness. In particular, patients should avoid ionic silver solutions. A silver ion is very unstable, and can easily bond with chemicals in the body, most typically chloride. This creates silver chloride, a useless compound.

True colloidal silver is much more stable, and retains silver's well-documented antibacterial properties after it has entered the body. Some producers of ionic silver solutions choose to disclose that they only sell ionic silver, but others do not. One can observe whether or not their silver product is ionic silver simply by looking at the color of the liquid. If it is perfectly clear, it is ionic silver.