As the world continues to grapple with the coronavirus or COVID-19, many experts have claimed different types of medication to work against the deadly novel virus. Scientists around the world are working to find a cure for the disease as researchers are looking at different medicines that can turn out to be effective.
Now, the governor of the Osaka Prefecture has stated that the gargling medicine can turn out to be helpful in containing the virus spread and recommended its use, which resulted in the stocks of the disinfectants getting over even though few questioned the findings.
Gargling Medicine for Coronavirus?
Based on trial including a group of 41 patients having mild symptoms, gargling with diluted povidone-iodine four times a day decreased the number of the people testing positive to 9.5 percent after four days, compared with the 40 percent for a group who gargled with only water, Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura stated at a press conference on Tuesday.
Povidone-iodine is an antiseptic, which is more commonly known as betadine. In Japan, it is used as a gargle medication. The companies that sell the medication did not make any comments, as reported by Bloomberg.
Yoshimura said, "It's worth giving a try," and recommended the use to the residents having symptoms and those who are working in high-risk industries like bars, restaurants, and healthcare. "It's a drug that everyone can buy at a drug store and it doesn't do any harm," he added.
COVID-19 in Japan
The findings are not based on the data from a large, controlled trial, which is the standard got understanding the safety and efficacy of any probable therapy. Osaka Mayor Ichiro Matsui said, "We've always been asking people to gargle, in addition to washing their hands, wearing a mask and social distancing. Now we're just saying there were better results when they gargled with this instead of gargling with nothing."
People in Japan commonly gargle as prevention against colds and flu during winter. The country witnessed an initial success in the fight against the virus but cases have started increasing in the country in recent times.
The deadly virus outbreak has created a major stir around the world as cases continue to increase around the world. After a drop in the number of cases for some time, the number of cases has started increasing again in recent times. According to experts, an effective vaccine is expected by the first quarter of 2021.
