Antiviral nasal sprays

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I’m surprised that there’s no mainstream dialogue about using nasal sprays to combat RSV, flu, and COVID-19. From what I’ve read, the nasal passages is one location in the body where many of these viruses live. It seems to me that if you could stop or at least hinder the viruses there, you’d reduce your risks of infection or at least clear an infection sooner. Viruses in the nasal passages may not be immediately detected by the immune system, or a sufficiently high viral load may be too much for the immune system to handle at once. And while anything in the throat gets washed away every time you drink water, this doesn’t normally happen in the nose.

This is where nasal sprays enter the picture. I’ve added use of a xylitol nasal spray to my daily routine. (NOTE: This is an ADDITION to other precautions, not a replacement.) And I intend to stick with the nasal spray habit for the rest of my life.

The nasal spray to avoid is Zicam, because people have had their sense of smell destroyed by this product. It seems that the olfactory nerve cells are extremely sensitive to zinc and are destroyed by it. Thus, regular zinc supplements or zinc lozenges are better.

Xylitol is said to stop viruses from attaching to cells. While there is a xylitol nasal spray you can buy called Xlear, I make my own xylitol nasal spray for much less money. I use one of those little spray bottles from Target (in the empty travel sized bottles section) and fill it with a mixture of distilled water, salt, xylitol, and drops of grapefruit seed extract. I also have some bromelain powder and use a dash of that in my nasal spray. (Bromelain is an enzyme in pineapple. It may have antiviral properties, such as breaking up spike proteins.)

Some articles/stories worth reading:

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One of the media “shortage” hysterias this year has been anti-flu nasal sprays.

Steve

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-09/tamiflu-influenza-treatment-supplies-are-limited-in-fast-start-to-flu-season

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Very interesting and I like it - the article about xylitol nasal sprays. Also, there is a shortage of tamiflu generic but not the expensive brand name medication your insurance doesn’t pay for. What a coincidence…doc

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Zicam nasal products have not included zinc for more than 10 years. They withdrew those zinc-containing products from the market after the FDA warned of potential loss of sense of smell.

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Oops. I’m glad that the problem has been corrected. On the other hand, I’m skeptical of Zicam’s effectiveness given that it relies on homeopathy.