Saline spray may help control flu

The Washington Times ^ | November 30, 2004 | Maggie Fox

[neverdem]

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The Washington Times
www.washingtontimes.com

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Saline spray may help control flu

By Maggie Fox
REUTERS NEWS AGENCY
Published November 30, 2004

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Simply inhaling a saltwater spray could help prevent the spread of diseases including flu and tuberculosis, U.S. and German researchers reported yesterday.

    They found a saline spray, administered using a device called a jet nebulizer, reduced the number of germ-spreading droplets by as much as 70 percent for six hours.

    The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could provide a way to help control epidemics, such as the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome that spread globally and killed many health care workers trying to help patients.

    The findings also might help control any global influenza pandemic, which almost all health researchers believe is coming and which could kill millions.

    The researchers noted much more study was needed before a saline spray device could be marketed to prevent the spread of diseases.

    Gerhard Scheuch of Harvard University and colleagues there and at biotechnology firms Pulmatrix and Inamed tested 11 volunteers, giving them the oral spray and then measuring how many particles they released when coughing.

    "Viruses known to spread from humans and/or animals through breathing, sneezing, and coughing include measles, influenza virus, adenovirus, African swine fever virus, foot and mouth disease virus, Varicella zoster virus (chicken pox), infectious bronchitis virus and smallpox, among others," they wrote.

    Bacteria spread in airborne droplets include anthrax, Escherichia coli and tuberculosis.

    Mr. Scheuch's team noted some people produced many more little droplets or bioaerosols than others -- something also seen by investigators of...

[neverdem]

However, DNA and RNA are both strands of nucleic acids which could be affected adversely by a supersaturated saline solution, yes?

It said nothing about supersaturated saline solution. I went looking. On Bloomberg it was described as a simple saline solution. My guess is 0.9% normal saline, a common intravenous solution. IIRC, that's 9 grams of sodium chloride in a liter of distilled water.

In a extracellular environment, the DNA or RNA core will still be protected by the capsid.

A supersaturated solution will tend to draw fresh water into it. Did you ever hear of a semi-permeable membrane? If not here's an example from real life. I was fishing in the ocean off of the Atlantic using bloodworms, salt water critters. I took them back to Fort Bragg, tossed them in the dirt and give them a little tap water. They swelled up and died.

[lainde]

bttt

[bjs1779]

Plain old hydrogen peroxide is very effective too if one is afraid of silver.

H2o2 for colds and flu