2023-04-28 07:07:30
In other words, mice exposed to ethanol vapor are protected against the influenza A virus. This is of course the inhalation of very low concentrations of ethanol vapor but these low levels are sufficient to deactivate the flu virus, and without harmful side effects. The scientists here hypothesize that the same method could make it possible to treat viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, responsible for COVID-19.
Lead author Tsumoru Shintake, who heads OIST’s Quantum Wave Microscopy Unit, was the first to hypothesize using ethanol vapor to treat respiratory tract infections: “The Ethanol is an effective disinfectant for external body surfaces, so we wanted to know if it could also be effective inside the body,” adds co-author Dr. Miho Tamai.
The study used a humidifier to produce ethanol vapor in a small container, exposed mice infected with influenza A to vapor for 10 minutes. The researchers note that the virus is then inactivated.
What process? The viruses, here influenza A accumulate in a thin layer of liquid covering the lung cells which protect the surface of the respiratory tract. Ethanol vapor increases the concentrations of ethanol in the fluid to about 20%, which successfully treats the infection. However, this concentration is not toxic to lung cells, which scientists have created in the lab to mimic human cells. But, at body temperature, 20% ethanol can not only inactivate the influenza A virus outside cells within one minute, but also prevent the virus from replicating inside those cells.
The concentration of ethanol supplied is therefore key.
If the concentration does not reach the right level to inactivate viruses, it is no longer effective.
What about other viruses? Influenza A is a virus that has an outer membrane and therefore ethanol could inactivate other enveloped viruses such as SARS-CoV-2. The researchers therefore planned to test ethanol vapor inhalation therapy in future outbreaks of enveloped viruses.
Thus, a method of inhaling ethanol vapor could possibly stop a pandemic in the future. The method still needs to be optimized and its effects studied on other respiratory infectious diseases such as avian influenza viruses and SARS-CoV-2.
A method to be “handled” with care, but its authors already see great potential as a new versatile and cost-effective therapy against various respiratory infectious diseases.
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