Before you stockpile Listerine, take the findings of a recent study with a grain of salt — at least until the results are replicated in a human clinical trial, several experts told Fox News. .
A new study conducted by researchers with Penn State College of Medicine and recently published in the Journal of Medical Virology found that mouthwash and oral rinses can “inactivate” human coronaviruses, with the study authors hypothesizing that these common dental hygiene products could possibly help to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus itself. .
Though the study’s authors didn’t test the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, when conducting their research, the human coronavirus they did analyze — a common cold-causing strain known as 229e — is “genetically similar” to SARS-CoV-2, leading the study authors to argue the results could be comparable. .
For the study, researchers tested various oral and nasopharyngeal rinses — which included a 1% solution of baby shampoo, a neti pot, peroxide sore-mouth cleansers, and mouthwashes, namely Listerine Antiseptic, Orajel Antiseptic Rinse, and Crest Pro‐Health, among others — to determine how well they inactivated the 229e strain. .
The mouthwash and oral rinses tested were also effective, they found: "Many inactivated greater than 99.9% of virus after only 30 seconds of contact time and some inactivated 99.99% of the virus after 30 seconds.” .
Lead study author Craig Meyers, a distinguished professor of microbiology and immunology and obstetrics and gynecology, said the results show the amount of virus (viral load) in an infected person’s mouth could be reduced by using these common over-the-counter products, possibly helping to reduce the spread of the novel virus in specific instances, like when caring for a COVID patient or visiting the dentist. .
HUMAN CORONAVIRUSES ‘INACTIVATED’ BY MOUTHWASH, ORAL RINSES: STUDY.
Additionally, while mouthwash could theoretically reduce the viral load in the oral cavity and throat for a short period of time, the dental product cannot stop the virus from replicating in cells within the body, noted many of the experts who spoke to Fox News. .
“It could conceivably be of some use,” Schaffner said of rinsing with mouthwash to reduce the spread of the virus, “but I expect it would at be best quite modest.”.
In an email to Fox News, Meyers, the lead author of the Penn State College of Medicine study, said his team was “the first to say that clinical trials need to be done” to prove the same results in people, not just a lab.
If everyone just sits around and worry about the caveats, ignoring the data available and the potential,” he continued, adding that his team’s findings bolster past research that also looked at how oral rinses and mouthwashes may be able to reduce the viral load of human coronaviruses
“Also, the study is not suggesting anyone do anything unusual but that doing something that is part of normal oral hygiene,” he said
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