Early Results: Nasal Spray Prevents Spreading Coronavirus

Could a nasal spray protect you against the spread of COVID-19?

That’s what researchers at Columbia University are hoping, and their data seems to back up the prospect. In a study that has yet to be peer-reviewed, the use of an innovative nasal spray stopped lab ferrets from contracting the coronavirus from others in their vicinity. Now, the participating scientists are hoping to replicate the result in humans.

Credit: BruceBlaus / Wikimedia Commons

About the Study

The study is a shared effort between Columbia University Medical Center in New York City, Cornell University in Upstate New York, and Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands. Funding came from Columbia as well as the National Institutes of Health.

Researchers tested the efficacy of the potential preventive measure with the use of several ferrets. Like humans, ferrets can become infected through the nose, making these tiny mammals ideal subjects when it comes to researching respiratory disease.

Conductors of the study gave six ferrets a dose of the new treatment, before separating the furry subjects into three cages, in groups of two. Researchers then added into each cage two additional ferrets that had been given a placebo, as well as one ferret who carried COVID-19.

After 24 hours, those ferrets who had taken the placebo indeed became infected with the virus. But none of the animals who took the nasal spray became infected. “Virus replication was completely blocked,” the study proudly reads.

Human Application?

Dr. Anne Moscona, a pediatrician and microbiologist at Columbia who co-authored the study, feels optimistic about the results and the potential to protect human populations.

“If it works this well in humans, you could sleep in a bed with someone infected or be with your infected kids and still be safe,” the doctor told The New York Times.

Dr. Moscona further explained that the spray attaches to cells in the nose and lungs, and is effective for about 24 hours. That means that the nasal spray would be a less permanent vaccine, and more a temporary prophylactic that users would have to reapply every morning. Still, it would probably be far less onerous than wearing a mask in public. And, according to Dr. Moscona, the product would be inexpensive to make and would not require refrigeration, like other comparable candidates.

But the study is far from over. Dr. Moscona says that the research team now needs additional funding to conduct clinical trials on humans. Still, the race for a cure continues, it is likely that we will see more vaccine alternatives, like this nasal spray, that could curb the spread of the disease, even if they fall short of permeant inoculating against it.

Reprinted with permission from https://werax.com/early-results-nasal-spray-prevents-spreading-coronavirus/