Using saltwater for treating respiratory and throat infections are common. However, there are double reviews on using salt water gargles for coronavirus. Some people believe that gargling could kill the virus and help to recover but it has no scientific proof. A team of scientists from the University of Edinburgh is all set to study whether or not these two share a relation.
Salt gargles are a common home remedy for cough and cold. Although its efficacy on reducing throat infection has some medical value, suggesting the similar for coronavirus symptoms. The new deadly coronavirus that spreads through the airways. So there is a high chance that warm water’s gargles can reduce the severity of symptoms. However, there is limited information to predict if salt water gargles kill coronavirus or not.
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Researchers from the University of Edinburgh are encouraging people to participate in a new study to determine the efficacy of salt water gargles. There is a possibility that the salt water can initiate the body’s natural immune system and kill the virus.
This study is a part of the efforts that the researchers are making in order to understand the virus. The treatment of the coronavirus still remains a grey area for medical partitionists as there is no medicine for it available. All they have is to advise paracetamol and ibuprofen to people with coronavirus symptoms.
For severe patients, doctors are using a variety of treatments while struggling to save their lives. Right now, NHS advises two medicines one is dexamethasone, a steroid and second is remdesivir, a medicine for Ebola for COVID-19 patients. However, none of them is able to provide 100% results.
The Edinburgh research team now wants to know if the popular salt water gargles kill coronavirus or not. Or if not kill, can it reduce the symptoms and spread of the viral particles inside the body or not.
This new idea of research is taken from many respiratory infections based on researches which include cough and cold and symptoms. A large number of people use these salt water gargles to ease cold and cough while suffering from these respiratory illnesses. The gargles also help to control the viral transmission to other people, around the infected person.
The original research idea of this Edinburgh researchers was studying another strain of the coronavirus. As salt can induce and improve the body’s immune response, there is a high chance that it could do the same against this novel coronavirus.
Salt is toxic for most of the respiratory viruses. It also naturally stimulates the immune system while the body already suffers from the virus. It created a new chemical called namely hypochlorous acid that has anti-viral properties. This is the same chemical that is inside bleaches for giving them an antibacterial and antiviral effect.
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Aziz Sheikh from the Usher Institute Edinburgh University says that his team is all set to start the trial within a few days in confirmed coronavirus patients. He is hopeful that this simple remedy would be helpful to reduce the severity of the COVID-19 symptoms.
Salt water requires only salt, warm water, and a stirrer. If this simplest remedy could help in coronavirus disease progression, it may be the cheapest coronavirus treatment. Before the trials, it is hard to say if salt water gargles kill coronavirus or they are only effective in common cold.
Note- The study is open for the people from Scotland diagnosed with coronavirus.
