United States: A non-pharmacological nasal spray may prove to be more effective in halting the spread of respiratory diseases such as the flu and COVID-19 than wearing a face mask, according to a new study.
The spray contains substances that, as far as the medical properties are concerned, are harmless and cause germs to stick to our noses and thus do not infect a human being, said the researchers.
As reported by the HealthDay, these compounds were used to formulate a drug-free protease inhibitors that work in three ways, explained co-senior study author Nitin Joshi, an assistant professor of anesthesiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
The nasal spray ‘creates a gel-like structure that captures respiratory droplets and then paralyzes the germs to make them harmless,’ Dr Joshi said in a hospital release.
This is why scientists are calling it Pathogen Capture and Neutralizing Spray abbreviated to PCANS.
The common virus accedes the human body through the nasal opening. While vaccines can assists the immune system to protect against an immune attack, vaccines cannot block the attack at its source, the researchers pointed out.
The COVID pandemic illustrated quite well, on what Respiratory Pathogens can wreak to the human race in such a short timespan. That threat has not disappeared, Professor of Anesthesiology at Brigham and Women’s, co-senior study author, Jeffrey Karp argued. “It used to be we can only fight the flu during its particular season, plus now there is COVID.”
When investigators coated a 3-D replica of the human nose with the spray, the spray collected twice the amount of droplets as would collect in mucus.
It becomes a gel with pcans, strengthening its mechanics a hundred times to act as a barrier; according to the lead researcher, John Joseph, a former postdoctoral fellow at Brigham and Women’s. “It neutralized as many as 99 percent of all viruses and bacteria in testing, including flu, SARS-CoV-2, RSV, Adenovirus, K Pneumonia and more.”Mice trial demonstrated that a single application of the spray would be enough to prevent infection with the flu virus at a concentration 25 the lethal dose said the researchers.
Essentially there is no other virus which made a way to the lungs of the mice and didn’t develop any immune.
Obviously in a rigorous mouse model study, prophylactic with the PCANS demonstrated exceptional efficacy with the treated mouse exhibiting complete protection while the untreated group showed no such benefits said co-senior study author Yohannes Tesfaigzi who is professor of the respiratory and inflammatory disease at the Brigham and Women’s.
Also this spray needed to be tested in the human clinical trials said the researchers and the team is also investigating its potential for allergy relief to see if can stop the allergens as effectively as the viruses.