The University of Edinburgh from Scotland are curious if one answer to COVID-19 is washing your mouth out.
This means that researchers are studying if gargling with salt water and rinsing nasal passages help would eradicate the novel coronavirus.
A simple salt water solution may diminish its initial symptoms and progression, reported Company News HQ.
Earlier research has suggested that such a solution can reduce common cold symptoms. It is already known that individuals who gargled and cleared their nasal passages with salt water reported less congestion and fewer coughs. Mayo Clinic has specified salt water gargling work as a common cold remedy.
The use of salt water as treatment is slated to undergo trial by Edinburgh researchers, according to BBC.
University of Edinburgh researchers are studying if a salt water solution could aid with mild symptoms of the coronavirus. The respiratory illness infects airways much like common colds and coughs.
The researchers are sought test subjects who contracted the virus to prove their theory. Such volunteers will be slated to perform the procedure in a maximum of 12 times a day for 2 weeks.
Treating confirmed cases is currently a gray area for doctors, as numerous resorting to paracetamol and ibuprofen as an approach.
The pilot study is entitled the "Edinburgh and Lothians Viral Intervention Study," or simply "Elvis" which recruited healthy adults within two days of them contracting the common cold. It was published in 2019 and was created to identify a low-cost and convenient intervention for the common cold.
The study discovered that gargling could diminish the length of the common cold by almost 2 days.
Also, individuals who carried out gargling and nasal irrigation with the salty solution were less probable to transmit the common cold to their family, were less likely to take medications from a pharmacy, and had a faster clearance of the virus.
Salt could be used by the cells to develop a bleach commonly known to kill the virus named hypochlorous acid.
The participants of the study were grouped into two. One group was ordered to gargle and rinse with a salt solution as they felt necessary. The second group dealt with the common cold the way they regularly do.
The said researchers are anticipating duplicate such results. The idea is that a remedy against other coronaviruses will still be successful against another type of coronavirus.
However, they stated, "We do not however know if this same benefit will also be seen in those with suspected or confirmed COVID-19. This study will help us find out if nasal washouts and gargling with salty water are helpful in COVID-19."
Participants of the trial will be asked to obey government advisory on self-quarantine hygiene and with one group being led to gargle and clear their nasal passages with a salt water solution.
The research is financially supported by BREATHE, which is the Health Data Research Hub for Respiratory Health.
The National Health Service (NHS) has approved the use of dexamethasone and remdisivir for critically ill coronavirus patients.
