United States: A tiny Neosporin antibiotic swabbed into your nostrils can possibly battle loads of airway viruses assaulting you, a study supposed.
More about the finding
Researchers discovered that lab animals that were treated for their nasal inflammation with neomycin, which is the main ingredient in over-the-counter Neosporin ointment, showed a robust immune response not only against COVID but also to a highly virulent strain of influenza.
Surprisingly, the nasal usage of Neosporin also prevailed among humans, but this time, Neosporin itself was functioning as the substance.
According to the US News reports, once the ointment was applied, it led to an immediate response from the genes in the human nose that are usually guarded against viruses by researchers. The findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on April 22.
Akiko Iwasaki, a professor of immunobiology and dermatology at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn, said, “This is an exciting finding, that a cheap over-the-counter antibiotic ointment can stimulate the human body to activate an antiviral response,” as the US news reported.
More about Neisporin
According to the US National Institutes of Medicine, Neosporin has three forms of antibiotic, namely neomycin, bacitracin, and polymyxin B.
While the WHO confirms that the SARS-CoV-2 virus has contracted over 774 million people and around 7 million death cases up to date, that is, researchers concluded. On top of these, five million and a quarter million flu cases result in severe illness and deaths, respectively.
In order to fight off the threat, human performs treatments administered orally or intravenously, according to scientists. The techniques employed are purposely built to keep the diseases at bay, as the US News reported.
However, some researchers think that an antiviral therapy that targets the nasal pathway has a much better chance of stopping the first infections before they spread to the lungs and cause serious diseases like pneumonia.
Beginning with test mice, scientists saw clear signs of immune activation in the case of exposure to the coronavirus and the flu viral infections.
Neomycin even when given by injection to hamsters, seemed to protect lab hamsters from being passed on by contact, the researchers revealed.
Surprisingly, healthy humans who used their bio-shield like Neosporin also demonstrated a similar immune response during subsequent swabs.
Iwasaki said, “Our findings suggest that we might be able to optimize this cheap and generic antibiotic to prevent viral diseases and their spread in human populations, especially in global communities with limited resources,” and, “This approach, because it is host-directed, should work no matter what the virus is.”