Do saline water gargling and nasal irrigation confer protection against COVID-19?

Abstract

This report provides a perspective on the relevance of saline water gargling and nasal irrigation to the COVID-19 crisis. While there is limited evidence concerning their curative or preventive role against SARS-CoV-2 infection, previous work on their utility against influenza and recent post-hoc analysis of the Edinburgh and Lothians Viral Intervention Study (ELVIS) provide compelling support to their applicability in the current crisis. Saline water gargling and nasal irrigation represent simple, economical, practically feasible, and globally implementable strategies with therapeutic and prophylactic value. These methods, rooted in the traditional Indian healthcare system, are suitable and reliable in terms of infection control and are relevant examples of harmless interventions. We attempt to derive novel insights into their usefulness, both from theoretical and practical standpoints.

Keywords: Covid-19; Infection control; Nasal irrigation; Saltwater gargling; Sars-cov-2.