Additional information has come to our attention with regard to our initial proposal for preventive throat disinfection/antisepsis to counter COVID-19.
Five days after we called for clinical studies to be conducted to test our proposal in our “Additional thoughts”1, researchers from the University of Kentucky have posted a trial employing one of the substances we had mentioned as effective against coronaviruses to the clinicaltrials.gov website.2
Specifically:
“In this study, front line healthcare workers will be asked to complete a pre-participation survey and screened for COVID positivity. They will then be given premade PVP-I gargles and nasal sprays, as well as a calendar card to mark compliance. PVP-I nasal spray and gargle (10% diluted 1:30) will be used prior to the start of a shift, during “lunch break”, and at the end of shift. First, the nasal spray will be sprayed in the nose (2 sprays each naris). For adequate coverage, the participant should be able to taste the iodine or see it in the back of the throat. This should be left in place for 30 seconds. Then, the participant will gargle the solution for 30 seconds and not have anything to eat or drink by mouth for 30 minutes. Treatment will continue for 3 weeks, or until the healthcare worker presents with COVID symptoms. Participants will then be tested for COVID positivity and asked to fill out a second questionnaire assessing study tolerability.”
The trial has reportedly started one day later, and is expected to be completed by May 2021. The trial design appears to disregard, unfortunately, the time of day we have postulated – in accordance with a prior article by US pulmonologist Bruce L. Davidson MD3 -, as being likely the most important one for pneumonia prevention, namely before going to sleep.4
In addition, study results were published yesterday with regard to efficacy of the same substance against COVID-19 in vitro.5
Title: “In Vitro Efficacy of Povidone-Iodine Nasal And Oral Antiseptic Preparations Against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)“
Results: “All concentrations of nasal antiseptics and oral rinse antiseptics evaluated completely inactivated the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Conclusions: Nasal and oral PVP-I antiseptic solutions are effective at inactivating the SARS-CoV-2 virus at a variety of concentrations after 60s exposure times.“
This, too, appears to indicate that a wider interest in the idea we have put forward on March 16 has recently begun to emerge.
_____- https://loico.com/additional-thoughts-regarding-benefit-throat-disinfection-covid-19-like-epidemics/[↩]
- https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04364802[↩]
- https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/12/opinions/coronavirus-vulnerability-while-sleeping-bruce-davidson/index.html[↩]
- https://loico.com/the-logic-of-surviving-the-coronavirus-pandemic/[↩]
- https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.25.20110239v1[↩]