Mouthwashes may also be effective against coronavirus, say US researchers.

Results from laboratory experiments indicate that some anti-infective, pathogen-killing, and anti-reproductive products may be helpful in reducing the viral load in the mouth after infection and may help reduce infection by SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19 disease. spread: read on the science news portal Science Daily.

The research team, led by microbiologist, immunologist and obstetrician-gynecologist Craig Meyers, tested various mouth and nasopharyngeal washes in the laboratory to see if they could inactivate the coronavirus.

Those tested included one-percent baby shampoo solutions, a nasal rinse, peroxide-based sore throat rinses, and mouthwashes.

The researchers found that several of these nasal and mouthwashes were able to neutralize the human coronavirus, suggesting that these products may reduce the amount of viruses that Covid-19 patients can transmit.

“While we wait for the vaccine to be developed, methods are needed to reduce the transmission of the infection. The products we are testing are already available and have often become part of people’s daily routine.” – the institution’s statement cited by the professor.

Research presented in the Journal of Medical Virology found that one percent baby shampoo solutions, often used by doctors to rinse cavities, neutralized more than 99.9 percent of the coronavirus two minutes after contact with it. . Various mouthwashes and throat rinses were also effective in neutralizing the infectious virus. More than 99.9 percent neutralized the virus 30 seconds after they came into contact with it.

Professor Meyers said their results are promising and that their next step will be to conduct clinical trials to evaluate their effectiveness in reducing infectivity in Covid-19 patients. If these solutions can reduce the transmission of infection by just 50 percent, that’s a great result, he added.

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