Iodine mouthwash ‘could protect against Covid-19’

Iodine mouthwash could destroy the coronavirus and prevent Covid-19 or reduce its effects if someone is already sick, scientists have claimed. 

Researchers said that specific types of mouthwash – made with the chemicals povidone and iodine – can have ‘significant virucidal activity’.

Testing on a small group of patients with Covid-19, they found that using the mouthwash reduced the number of viruses that were in their saliva.

Lower viral loads – the number of viruses circulating through the body – have been linked to milder symptoms and faster recovery.

Scientists noted that iodine mouthwashes had proved very effective against the diseases SARS and MERS, which are very similar to Covid-19, so tested them on coronavirus patients.

Although they only tested it on four people, they said the results were promising and that the mouthwash could be used both for patients and uninfected people. They called for a bigger study to be done to test their theory.

Iodine mouthwash is stronger than popular shop-bought products such as Listerine or Colgate, which typically don’t contain the antiseptic chemical – it is more commonly used by dentists. One brand that contains iodine is Betadine.

Scientists say medical-grade mouthwashes – not commercial ones – could kill the coronavirus (stock image)

Writing in the journal Oral Diseases, researchers led by the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain said: ‘Results suggest that a PVP-I rinse [mouthwash] could reduce the saliva viral load of SARS-CoV-2 in patients with higher viral loads. 

‘Therefore, routine administration of PVP-I would be primarily indicated for symptomatic patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, especially during the first week after symptom onset, which is when viral charges in the saliva are highest.

‘Asymptomatic patients usually have low viral loads, but those who end up developing symptoms have substantially greater viral loads even during the presymptomatic phase; accordingly, the application of PVP-I for the general population could be considered as a supplementary prevention measure’.

The Vigo team tested the effects of the mouthwash on four people who already had Covid-19.

WHAT IS A VIRAL LOAD AND HOW CAN IT AFFECT ILLNESS? 

Everybody who contracts Covid-19 will develop huge amounts of the virus inside their body, but people will become first infected with different quantities of it.

The quantity of viruses in the body when someone is infected is called the viral load. 

Someone who breathes in the cough of a seriously ill patient in the height of a fever, for example, will be exposed to more viruses than someone who touches a door handle that was coughed on two days ago.

Most of the coronavirus symptoms are caused by the immune reaction which is triggered when the virus is discovered in the body.

In a bid to destroy the viruses the body ratchets up its internal temperature to kill them, causing a fever, and uses huge amounts of calories to send immune cells out into the blood to attack the viruses, causing tiredness and aching.

Being exposed to a smaller number of viruses at the start may mean the body can start off with a smaller immune response.

More viruses, however, would mean a need for a bigger reaction which could produce worse symptoms and then raise the risk of it tipping over into sepsis later on in the illness.

They had been inspired by earlier studies which showed the povidone and iodine mix was very effective at killing SARS and MERS viruses.

Those are both coronaviruses and genetically extremely similar to SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19. 

Iodine is a strong antiseptic and is used in hospitals to sterilise wounds and to clean people’s skin during surgery so they don’t get infections. 

It is able to kill a huge variety of bacteria, viruses and fungi. 

The Spanish study found that the viral load of coronavirus in each of the patients’ saliva tumbled after they were given the mouthwash. 

Viral load is a measure of how many of the coronaviruses somebody has in their body, and is thought to be an indicator of how seriously ill they are or could become.

Other things that may affect it include the way someone was infected.

Someone who breathes in the cough of a hospitalised patient – who have been found to have generally larger viral loads – is likely to have a more severe infection than someone who gets fewer viruses by catching them from a handrail that was touched by a patient without any symptoms.

Past studies have suggested that a lower viral load is linked to less severe symptoms and therefore a lower risk of death from Covid-19.

The researchers said mouthwash, if effective, could be a cheap way to try and protect people from serious illness.

‘Given that a PVP-I rinse is a simple, inexpensive and practically innocuous intervention,’ Professor Pedro Diz Dios and colleagues wrote, ‘we consider that the encouraging results of the present study justify implementing a clinical trial to confirm its efficacy.’ 

Professor Dios and his team called for another, larger study to be done to test their theory and see if mouthwash could help.

The paper adds to past research which has suggested mouthwash has protective effects in other ways.

A team of international researchers said in May that mouthwash may be able to destroy the outermost layer or ‘envelope’ of the virus, preventing its replication in the mouth and throat.

Coronaviruses belong to the class of ‘enveloped viruses’, meaning they are covered by a fatty layer that is vulnerable to certain chemicals. 

The study authors do not say that current commercially-available mouthwash prevents COVID-19, but that further research into mouthwash chemicals could be beneficial. 

Writing in the journal Function, the study authors, led by Cardiff University, say oral rinses are an ‘under-researched area of major clinical need’.

The team is backed by virologists, lipid specialists and healthcare experts from Cardiff University’s School of Medicine, along with the universities of Nottingham, Colorado, Ottawa, Barcelona and Cambridge’s Babraham Institute.

‘Safe use of mouthwash – as in gargling – has so far not been considered by public health bodies in the UK,’ said lead author Professor O’Donnell, co-director of Cardiff University’s Systems Immunity Research Institute.

‘In test tube experiments and limited clinical studies, some mouthwashes contain enough of known virucidal ingredients to effectively target lipids in similar enveloped viruses.

‘What we don’t know yet is whether existing mouthwashes are active against the lipid membrane of SARS-CoV-2.

‘Our review of the literature suggests that research is needed as a matter of urgency to determine its potential for use against this new virus.’

‘This is an under-researched area of major clinical need – and we hope that research projects will be quickly mobilised to further evaluate this.’ 

The ingredients of dental mouthwashes, including chlorhexidine, cetylpyridinium chloride, hydrogen peroxide and povidone-iodine, all have the potential to prevent infection and several ‘deserve clinical evaluation’, according to the researchers. 

SALT WATER IS BEING TRIALLED AS COVID-19 REMEDY

Salt water could treat Covid-19, according to scientists who will test whether the unusual remedy actually works.

Gargling salt water has been found to reduce the symptoms of coughs and colds and to stop them getting worse, researchers say.

And now they want to find out if it could help people with mild symptoms of the coronavirus, which infects the airways in a similar manner.

University of Edinburgh experts are recruiting people to take part in a study to test whether gargling with salt water could boost the body’s antiviral abilities.

Knowing how to treat Covid-19 is still a grey area for doctors, with people with mild symptoms advised to stick to paracetamol and ibuprofen.

Two antivirals have been approved for NHS use on critically-ill patients, the steroid dexamethasone, and an anti-Ebola drug remdesivir — but neither are silver bullets.

The Edinburgh scientists now want to find out if the low-cost salt water option could help people with mild infections and also stop them getting more seriously ill.

They suggested direct contact with salt has a toxic effect on the viruses themselves, or stimulates ‘innate immune mechanisms’ inside cells in the airways. 

Salt may also be used by the body’s cells to create a chemical called hypochlorous acid, which is found in bleach and known to kill viruses, the researchers said. 

Professor Aziz Sheikh, director of Edinburgh University’s Usher Institute, said: ‘We are now moving to trial our salt water intervention in those with suspected or confirmed Covid-19, and hope it will prove to be a useful measure to reduce the impact and spread of the infection. 

‘It only requires salt, water and some understanding of [gargling] procedure, so should, if found to be effective, be easy – and inexpensive – to implement widely.’

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