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A variety of common household items, including mouthwashes, nasal washes, and even diluted baby shampoo, have been found to inactivate a form of human coronavirus in new research, highlighting another potential avenue to reduce transmission rates amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Before we go any further, it’s worth noting that no one is suggesting that mouthwash is some kind of silver bullet that can protect you from a virus that has killed over 1 million people so far, as that’s not what this is. Research is neither demonstrating nor recommending.
To begin with, no one gargled mouthwashes as part of these new experiments, which were done in the lab using human cells grown in solutions. In other words, we have not yet tested the effects of using products like mouthwashes on coronaviruses in people.
Also, it’s worth noting that the scientists in this study used a form of coronavirus called HCoV-229e, not SARS-CoV-2, which is the specific coronavirus behind the COVID-19 disease.
As both viruses are genetically similar, it is expected that the results of the experiment will be generally the same, but it is another reason not to think that the use of mouthwashes in real life confers protective benefits, since that has not actually been proven .
Nonetheless, as health authorities strive to debunk popular misconceptions about alleged coronavirus defenses in the background, scientists have been calling for more research to investigate how products like mouthwash could interact and inactivate SARS-CoV- 2, due to the presence of chemicals known to disrupt viral membranes.
To examine this, a team from Penn State University exposed human liver cells in culture with mixed solutions containing HCoV – 229e and mouthwash, a nasal rinse product, or 1 percent diluted baby shampoo.
The tests revealed that all the products were effective in inactivating the virus, although the extent of the effects varied between products and depended on how long the products were in contact with the virus.
“With contact times of 1 and 2 minutes, the 1 percent baby shampoo solution was able to inactivate more than 99 percent and more than 99.9 percent or more of the virus, respectively,” the researchers write in their paper. .
Among mouthwashes, many of the products tested inactivated 99.99 percent of the virus after 30 seconds, and when incubation times increased more than that (1 and 2 minutes), the researchers could not detect any remaining infectious viruses. in cells.
The findings support earlier research from Germany published in July, which also suggested that exposure to mouthwash could significantly reduce the viral load of the coronavirus. It’s also worth noting that the German study used SARS-CoV-2 in the experiments, which were otherwise similar to the Penn State study.
However, none of these studies can guarantee that we will see the same results in human trials, and there is a lot we don’t know about how products like mouthwashes and mouthwashes might work in real-world settings.
Still, given the kind of positive results we’re seeing in experiments like this, and considering the few defenses we currently have against coronavirus, beyond common basics like physical distancing, hand washing, and use of masks, researchers say we should be. analyze clinical trials to assess whether products such as mouthwash can also reduce viral load in COVID-19 positive patients.
“Clinical trials are needed to determine whether these products can reduce the amount of viruses that COVID-positive patients or those in high-risk occupations can spread by talking, coughing or sneezing,” says microbiologist Craig Meyers, first author of the study.
“Even if the use of these solutions could reduce transmission by 50 percent, it would have a significant impact.”
Findings are reported in Journal of Medical Virology.
