A NEW research review suggests that publicly available mouthwashes could, in theory, inhibit SARS-CoV-2. The team behind the review call for further research to be done to confirm their speculative findings.

If clinical trials prove effective, the findings, published in the journal Function, may provide another way to reduce the spread of the disease until scientists can produce an effective, publicly available vaccine.

SARS-CoV-2, like other coronaviruses, is an enveloped virus. This means that it creates an outer membrane by drawing on the cells of a host organism.

This membrane allows the virus to replicate effectively. If scientists can disrupt this envelope, then this might slow down the spread of the virus within an organism.

Using soap and water or disinfectant can disrupt a viral envelope and kill the virus. Research has shown that disinfectants can kill the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

This is why health authorities and organizations encourage people to wash their hands and surfaces with soap or alcohol-based products regularly.

The present review proposes that some publicly available mouthwashes may be able to help fulfill this role.

Scientists have shown that the virus replicates significantly in the throat. This may mean that a patient with COVID-19 is likely to have the highest concentration of the virus in this area. With high levels of the virus in the throat, it is easy for a person to transmit it through breathing, coughing and sneezing.

The authors of the current study wanted to see if alcohol-based mouthwashes — which come into contact with a person’s throat, a key site for viral load, and a source of viral transmission — could, in theory, inhibit the transmission of the virus or reduce its severity.

Although there is little scientific literature exploring the effects of low-alcohol concentrations on viral envelopes, the authors drew on research that looked at the effects on mammalian cells. The virus develops its envelope from these cells. After studying the literature, the researchers found that there was good reason to suppose that some low-alcohol products would, in theory, be able to disrupt the viral envelope of SARS-CoV-2.(SD-Agencies)