AS some scientists work on potential COVID-19 vaccines, others are looking to existing products to slow the rate of corona virus infection, including mouthwashes and oral rinses.
Alcohol-based hand sanitizers and wipes play an important part in reducing infection rates. However, other products might also have a role to play. Scientists are looking at oral rinses and mouthwashes.
Craig Meyers, professor of microbiology and immunology and obstetrics and gynecology, led the study. “While we wait for a vaccine to be developed, methods to reduce transmission are needed,” Meyers says. “The products we tested are readily available and often already part of people’s daily routines.”
The selected nasal products included a diluted Johnson’s Baby Shampoo nasal rinse and a CVS Health Neti Pot. The mouthwash gargling products tested were CVS Health Peroxide Sore Mouth Cleanser, 1.5% Hydrogen Peroxide solution (Cumberland Swan Inc.), Orajel Antiseptic Rinse (Church & Dwight Co. Inc.), Betadine 5% (Alcon Laboratories Inc.), Crest Pro-Health (Procter & Gamble), Listerine Antiseptic (Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc.), Listerine Ultra (Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc.), Equate (Walmart), and Antiseptic Mouthwash (CVS Health).
Incurable neurological diseases: Moving toward treatments
Nerve damage from neurodegenerative conditions, traumatic injuries, and certain eye conditions leads to disability and death for millions of people in the United States. Currently, doctors consider such damage irreversible.
However, researchers have discovered a new type of human immune cell that appears to prevent and reverse nerve damage in the optic nerve and spinal cord.
This finding could allow researchers to create more advanced neurodegenerative immunotherapies.
These therapies might offer fresh hope to people with currently incurable neurological conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, stroke, and Parkinson’s disease. They might also help treat central nervous system (CNS) damage from injury or infection. Immunotherapy therapies alter the immune response by stimulating it or using the body’s own immune cells to treat disease. Over the past few decades, scientists have begun developing them to tackle a wide range of medical conditions.
Doctors already use immunotherapies to treat certain types of cancer. They help the immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells.
