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Certain oral antiseptics and mouthwashes may have the ability to inactivate human coronaviruses, according to a research study from the Penn State College of Medicine. The results indicate that some of these products may be helpful in reducing the viral load, or the amount of virus, in the mouth after infection and may help reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID -19.
Craig Meyers, Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and Obstetrics and Gynecology, led a group of physicians and scientists who tested various mouthwashes and nasopharyngeal rinses in a laboratory setting for their ability to inactivate human coronaviruses, which are similar in structure to SARS- CoV- 2. Products tested include a 1% solution of baby shampoo, a Neti pot, peroxide mouthwashes and mouthwashes.
The researchers found that several of the nasal and mouthwashes had a strong ability to neutralize human coronavirus, suggesting that these products may have the potential to reduce the amount of viruses transmitted by COVID-19 positive people.
“While we wait for a vaccine to be developed, methods are needed to reduce transmission,” Meyers said. “The products we test are readily available and often already part of people’s daily routine.”
Meyers and his colleagues used a test to replicate the interaction of the virus in the nasal and oral cavities with the mouthwashes. The nasal and oral cavities are the main entry and transmission points for human coronaviruses. They treated solutions containing a strain of human coronavirus, which served as a genetically similar and readily available alternative to SARS-CoV-2, with the baby shampoo solutions, various antiseptic peroxide rinses, and various brands of mouthwashes. They allowed the solutions to interact with the virus for 30 seconds, one minute, and two minutes, before diluting the solutions to avoid further inactivation of the virus. According to Meyers, the outer envelopes of the tested human coronavirus and SARS-CoV-2 are genetically similar, so the research team hypothesizes that a similar amount of SARS-CoV-2 can be inactivated when exposed to the solution.
To measure how much virus was inactivated, the researchers placed the diluted solutions in contact with cultured human cells. They counted how many cells were left alive after a few days of exposure to the viral solution and used that number to calculate the amount of human coronavirus that was inactivated as a result of exposure to the mouthwash or mouthwash that was tested. The results were published in the Journal of Medical Virology.
The 1% baby shampoo solution, often used by GPs and neck doctors to rinse the sinuses, inactivated more than 99.9% of the human coronavirus after a two-minute contact time. Several of the mouthwashes and gargle products were also effective in inactivating the infectious virus. Many inactivated more than 99.9% of the virus after just 30 seconds of contact time and some inactivated 99.99% of the virus after 30 seconds.
According to Meyers, the results with mouthwashes are promising and add to the findings of a study showing that certain types of mouthwashes could inactivate SARS-CoV-2 under similar experimental conditions. In addition to evaluating solutions over longer contact times, they studied over-the-counter products and nasal rinses that were not evaluated in the other study. Meyers said the next step to expand on these results is to design and conduct clinical trials that evaluate whether products like mouthwashes can effectively reduce viral load in COVID-19 positive patients.
“People who test positive for COVID-19 and return home from quarantine are likely to transmit the virus to the people they live with,” said Meyers, a researcher at the Penn State Cancer Institute. “Certain professions, including dentists and other healthcare workers, are at constant risk of exposure. Clinical trials are needed to determine if these products can reduce the amount of viruses that COVID-positive patients or those in high-risk occupations can spread. when talking, coughing or sneezing. Even if the use of these solutions could reduce transmission by 50%, it would have a big impact. “
Future studies may include continued research for products that inactivate human coronaviruses and what specific ingredients in the tested solutions inactivate the virus.
Janice Milici, Samina Alam, David Quillen, David Goldenberg, and Rena Kass from Penn State School of Medicine and Richard Robison from Brigham Young University also contributed to this research.
The research was supported by funding from the Penn State Huck Institutes for the Life Sciences. The researchers declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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