Can you imagine that the risk of COVID-19 transmission could be reduced thanks to a mouthwash? Well, it seems that it could become true, since a study by the Fight Against Infections Foundation together with the IrsiCaixa AIDS Research Institute and the North Metropolitan Territorial Management of the Catalan Institute of Health (ICS) has corroborated this effect of some mouthwashes .
Specifically, these effects have been found in mouthwashes that contain cetylpyridine chloride (CPC) in their composition, so it would be only those of this type that could be useful in slowing down the rapid expansion of SARS-CoV-2, slowing down its spread in infected people.
As explained in the research, which has been published in the Journal of Dental Research, the compound has the ability to break the membrane that covers the infectious virus, so it would reduce the amount of active virus in the saliva of positive people. , the most common form of contagion.
A simple way to reduce the spread of the coronavirus
The study was carried out using saliva samples from 118 patients with an average age of 46 with a positive diagnosis of COVID-19 using the ELISA technique, which, unlike PCR, detects the nucleocapsid proteins of SARS-CoV-2, showing the ability of CPC to break the virus membrane. These in vivo results corroborate the findings found in previous in vitro studies.
People with COVID-19 spread through their saliva, thanks to mouthwashes with cetylpyridine chloride their viral load could be reduced in it
Specifically, they found that mouthwashes with 0.07% CPC reduce the infectivity of people with coronavirus. “That a mouthwash with CPC is capable of reducing the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 in saliva is very good news, since the use of this mouthwash could reduce the transmission of the virus between people”, indicates Dr. Andrea Germany.
Therefore, if the effects of this liquid are confirmed, it could become a simple and inexpensive way to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Joan Gispert, from DENTAID R&D&i, explains that “the results of this study allow us to confirm that the clear relationship between the oral cavity and COVID-19, already demonstrated previously, may also lead to a possible way to prevent its spread.
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