Would you be able to protect yourself against covid infection with the help of a nasal spray? Yes, it may be a step closer to becoming a reality, new study shows positive results on ferrets.
In a small study published in Science, six ferrets were allowed to test a nasal spray. The active substance in the nasal spray is called lipopeptide and is made to settle as a protection in the nose and lungs and thereby prevent the coronavirus from entering the body’s cells.
The six ferrets that got the nasal spray was then allowed to socialize with corona-sick ferrets for 24 hours, and none of them became ill. On the other hand, the control group’s six ferrets became ill who did not receive the nasal spray. The nasal spray seems to last for about 24 hours.
This is a very small study and of course larger and confirmatory studies are required before this becomes interesting for humans. But Ali Mirazimi, a virus researcher at the Karolinska Institutet who has looked at the study, believes that something like this could be interesting as a future complement to vaccines.
Reference: Rory D. de Vries et al. “Intranasal fusion inhibitory lipopeptide prevents direct-contact SARS-CoV-2 transmission in ferrets”. Science magazine. Feb 18 2021 https://science.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/science.abf4896.
Source: ICELAND NEWS