MOSCOW, April 21 – RIA Novosti, Tatyana Pichugina. The common cold and flu are caused by more than a hundred different viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, which infects the lungs. An infection enters the body, usually through the upper respiratory tract, causing sore throat, coughing, sneezing, and sometimes a runny nose. Patients resort to ancient remedies: make inhalations with herbal infusions, rinse the nasopharynx with saline, go to the sauna to breathe hot steam. How effective these methods are in the RIA Novosti material.
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Studies have shown that an aqueous solution with an ethanol volume of approximately 30 percent kills type A influenza virus per minute.
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Calculations and a physical experiment led Shintake to the conclusion that using a spray to disinfect surfaces is not very correct: alcohol evaporates quickly, leaving just a drop of water. If you increase the concentration of alcohol, there is a risk of fire. Therefore, the best thing is inhalation through the nose.
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The scientist set the experience on himself: he poured diluted whiskey into a tall glass, heated to 50-60 degrees, and inhaled the vapors. The main thing here is not to take away excess air with your nose, to prevent condensation of the mixture and to breathe in sips so that steam does not precipitate in the trachea. You can cover the nostrils with gauze for about a minute. Vapors of ethanol deposited on the mucous membrane of the nasopharynx will destroy attached viruses.
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The author admits: his method is still hypothetical and requires further research, in addition, it is not designed for widespread use, and is recommended only to medical professionals.
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Steam inhalations are popular all over the world – who in childhood did not breathe on potatoes, herbal infusion or even soup. It is believed that this facilitates breathing, alleviates sore throat, and cures cough.
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Doctors do not exclude the effectiveness of these folk remedies – human rhinoviruses stop reproducing at temperatures between 33 and 43 degrees, as shown by in vitro experiments. That is why the fight against the disease is accompanied by high body temperature.
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There was an idea to use plants containing essential oils for “steam therapy”. More and more data is accumulating about their antimicrobial and antiviral activity.
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