Cardiff University researchers working on finding a solution for COVID infection think mouthwash could combat the virus. Could it be true, let’s find out…
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, a number of hypotheses have been floated about whether common household items and supplements could kill COVID-19 or keep it from spreading.
In the first year of the global crisis, the most common hypothesis was that vitamin D may protect the immune system against infection.
Despite common belief, health professionals say there is no proof that the popular vitamin helps prevent COVID-19. It was soon followed by the proposal that mouthwash may be used to destroy the virus.
Unlike the vitamin D idea, this one is backed up by evidence.
Mouthwash, according to Cardiff University researchers, can eliminate 99.8% of the Covid virus in saliva.
The trial compared four different brands of mouthwash on 27 hospital patients.
The most effective was one containing Cetylpyridinium chloride and isopropyl myristate, which was shown to kill 99.99 percent of the virus in under 30 seconds.
Furthermore, no active virus was discovered in the saliva of three of the seven individuals after the first washing.
Cardiff University researchers studied the lipid envelope, a little-studied aspect of antiviral research.
“While vaccines and antivirals have targeted proteins or the replication cycle of SARS-CoV-2, there has been little research into the lipid envelope to date,” said Cardiff’s Professor Valerie O’Donnell.
“Our study has mapped this essential viral component – indeed, there has been very little research into any viral lipid envelopes so far”.
ProAddressing this knowledge gap, according to Professor O’Donnell, “could enable selective therapeutic targeting that void damaging host membranes. We also suspect the membrane won’t be impacted by mutation of the virus, unlike spike proteins, so it would be a consistent target”.
In practice, this means that if more trials are successful, the treatment will be partially immune to the virus’s development.
Pfizer, Oxford-Astra Zenica, and Moderna have all had to alter their COVID-19 vaccines in recent months due to changes in the virus.
Professor Richard Stanton, a co-author of the study, noted: “Our results suggest certain mouthwashes could play a role in limiting Covid-19 exposure in healthcare settings”.
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