Mouthwash could kill Covid virus in saliva by 99.8% – study finds effective ingredients
PMQs: Starmer questions Johnson on breaking Covid restrictions
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Unlike the vitamin D theory, this one has evidence to back up the claim.
Researchers from Cardiff University have established mouth wash could kill 99.8 percent of the Covid virus in saliva.
The trial, conducted on 27 hospital patients, compared four different types of mouthwash.
The most efficacious was that which contained Cetylpyridinium chloride and isopropyl myristate; it was found to eliminate 99.99 percent of the virus after a single 30 second rinse.
Furthermore, in three of the seven patients no live virus was detected in the saliva at any time after the first rinse.
Researchers from Cardiff University were focussing on lipid envelope, a little-understood area of antiviral study.
Speaking about the results Cardiff’s Professor Valerie O’Donnell said: “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.
“Our study has mapped this essential viral component – indeed, there has been very little research into any viral lipid envelopes so far”.
Professor O’Donnell said addressing this knowledge gap “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”.
What this means in practice is, should further trials show success, the treatment would be partially immune to the evolution of the virus.
In recent months the likes of Pfizer, Oxford-Astra Zenica, and Moderna have had to change their vaccines to deal with mutations in the COVID-19 virus.
Co-author of the study, Professor Richard Stanton added: “Our results suggest certain mouthwashes could play a role in limiting Covid-19 exposure in healthcare settings”.
The results of this research come at a pertinent time for the UK.
In recent weeks the government has initiated its Living With Covid plan.
As part of this strategy all restrictions have been lifted; the aim of this strategy is to treat Covid like seasonal diseases such as flu.
This move attracted criticism as the government provided no concrete evidence for its decision.
As a result, case numbers in the UK rocketed to their highest levels since the crisis began attracting concern and critique from nurses and doctors working on the frontline.
However, positive news is afoot with recent data showing the number of people with the virus is starting to fall.
Data from the ONS showed around 3.76 million people had the virus during the week ending 16th April, a 15 percent drop on the week before.
While this news is welcome, the NHS remains under intense pressure as it tries to balance Covid and non-Covid care.
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