Starting to rinse the mucus-lined nasal hollow space twice a day with soft saline some time after testing positive for COVID-19 can particularly reduce hospitalizations and deaths, the researchers report.
They say the strategy that can be used at home by mixing a teaspoon of salt and baking soda in a cup of boiled or distilled water and then putting it in a nasal rinse bottle is a safe, effective, and inexpensive way to lessen the threat. of severe illness and death from coronavirus infection which can have a major effect on health. Public.
“What we say in the emergency room and in surgery is that the solution to contaminants is dilution,” says Dr. Brown. Amy Baxter, emergency physician at Augusta University’s Georgia School of Medicine and corresponding to the study in Ear, Nose.
By providing more hydration to your sinuses, you make them bigger. If you have a contaminant, the more you remove it, the better you can get rid of dirt, viruses, and everything else. “
“We found 8. 5-fold relief in hospitalizations and no deaths compared to our controls,” said Dr. Richard Schwartz, chair of the CGM’s Department of Emergency Medicine. “Both are pretty vital endpoints. “
The study appears to be the largest prospective clinical trial of its kind and the high-risk elderly population they studied-; many of whom had pre-existing situations such as obesity and hypertension-; you can get the most out of simple, affordable practice, according to the researchers.
They found that less than 1. 3% of the 79 subjects over the age of 55 who enrolled within 24 hours of testing positive for COVID-19 between September 24 and December 21, 2020 were hospitalized. No one died.
Of the players, who were treated in the CGM formula and au fitness and followed for 28 days, one player was admitted to the hospital and another went to the emergency room not yet admitted.
By comparison, 9. 47% of patients were hospitalized and 1. 5% died in an organization with similar demographics reported through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the same period, which began about nine months after the first onset of SARS-CoV-2 in the United States. States. .
“The relief from 11% to 1. 3% as of November 2021 would have corresponded in absolute terms to more than one million fewer older Americans requiring admission,” they write. “If shown in other studies, the possible relief in international morbidity and mortality might only be profound. “
Schwartz says Baxter brought the concept to him at the beginning of the pandemic and liked the fact that it was inexpensive, easy to use and could have a potential effect on millions of other people at a time when, like other fitness facilities, the UA emergency branch of the fitness formula was born to see many SARS-CoV-2 positive patients.
“We were looking for the features we had for treatment,” Schwartz said. The first COVID-19 vaccines were administered in December 2020 and the first treatment, the antiviral remdesivir, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in October 2020.
They knew that the more the virus was delivered in their body, the greater the impact, Baxter says. “One of our minds was this: If we can eliminate some of the virus within 24 hours of the positive test, then we would possibly be able to lessen the severity of this total trajectory,” he says, adding that it reduces the likelihood that the virus could also enter the lungs, where it caused permanent and fatal damage. many people.
In addition, the now notorious pointed SARS-CoV-2 is known to attach to the ACE2 receptor, which is everywhere in the body and in abundance in places like the nasal cavity, mouth, and lungs. Drugs that interfere with the virus’ ability to adhere to ACE2 have been sued, and Baxter says nasal irrigation with saline is helping to minimize the usual strong physical bond. Saline appears to inhibit the virus’ ability to necessarily make two cuts on its own, called furin cleavage, so it may have greater compatibility with an ACE2 receptor once it detects one.
Participants self-administered nasal irrigation using povidone iodine, that brown antiseptic that is painted on the frame before surgery, or baking soda or baking soda, which is used as a cleanser, combined with water that usually had the same concentration of salt found in the frame.
While the researchers found that the additives did not provide any added value, previous studies had indicated that they could help, for example, hinder the binding of the virus to the ACE2 receptor. But their experience indicates that saline alone was sufficient. “What counts is the rinse and the amount,” Baxter says.
The researchers also sought to find out if they had any effect on the severity of symptoms, such as chills and loss of taste and smell. Twenty-three of the 29 participants who ate twice a day had no or no symptoms after two weeks, compared with 14 of the 33 who were less diligent.
Those who performed nasal irrigation twice a day reported a quicker solution of symptoms, regardless of which of the two non-unusual antiseptics they added to salt water.
Sixty-two of the participants responded to a daily survey, reporting 1. 8 risks consistent with the day; 11 reported court cases similar to irrigation and 4 stopped it.
Study participants and those used as controls had ages and rates of non-unusual conditions, adding one or more pre-existing conditions.
The elderly, those who are obese and overweight, those who are physically inactive, and those with underlying physical fitness situations should be exposed to the maximum threat of severe headaches and hospitalization due to COVID-19. A frame mass index, or BMI, that measures weight relative to height, between 18. 5 and 24. 9, is ideal, and the participants examined had an average BMI of 30. 3; more than 30 indicate obesity.
Others have shown that nasal irrigation, also known as hing, is also possibly effective in reducing the duration and severity of infection through a circle of virus relatives that includes coronaviruses, which are also known to cause colds, as well as flu viruses. the researchers write. ” SARS-CoV-2 infection is another ideal scenario for that,” Baxter says.
In fact, nasal irrigation is something that has been done for millennia in Southeast Asia, and Baxter had noticed a decline in COVID-19 death rates in countries like Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand. “use nasal irrigation as a general component of hygiene, as well as brushing your teeth,” he says. A 2019 pre-COVID-19 study provided evidence that normal nasal irrigation in Thailand can reduce nasal congestion, decrease postnasal discharge, sinus pain, or headaches, taste, and smell. and sleep quality.
Schwartz said the simplicity and protection of the remedy led him to propose nasal irrigation to positive patients early on and that the published effects make it even more self-confident by recommending nasal irrigation to virtually anyone who tests positive.
Baxter noted the medical network’s skepticism before the effects could be peer-reviewed and published and their frustration with this undeniable technique not being used when so many other people had health problems and were dying.
“A lot of other people who have been using it for months have told me that their seasonal allergies have passed, that it makes a huge difference in all the things that go through the nose and are annoying. “
A study published in September 2020 indicated that gargling with a saline-based solution can reduce viral load in COVID-19, and published in 2021 suggested that saline works in several ways to reduce bloodless symptoms similar to infection with other coronaviruses and could also work as a first-line reaction to COVID-19.
Despite the two nostrils, the sinus is just one cavity, so water is directed toward one and out through the other, Baxter notes.
Georgia School of Medicine at Augusta University
Baxter. A. L. , et al. (2022) Rapid onset of saline nasal irrigation to severity in high-risk COVID outpatients. Diary of ears, nose and garganta. doi. org/10. 1177/01455613221123737.
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