A study shows that the nose is of greater importance in the spread of the coronavirus than previously thought. Virologist Christian Drosten concludes that the olfactory organ could therefore also play an important role in the therapy of Covid-19.
Scientists from the University of North Carolina recently published a study that shows that the nose may be the main gateway for coronaviruses. Apparently the mucous membranes are the most easily affected, and Sars-CoV-2 migrates from there down the airways into the lungs. Virologist Christian Drosten took up the study in his NDR podcast and draws his conclusions from it.
First of all, the study shows how important it is to wear a face mask so that it fits properly over the nose. It is quite possible that the virus is excreted primarily through the nose, he says. And the masks are there to protect other people from infection. It should not be forgotten that the nose is not only the direct connection to the throat, but that the entire facial skull is traversed by sinuses. There are findings that patients infected with Sars-CoV-2 have sinus infections. “Well, I think that one can assume that a virus is properly excreted when it is expelled from the nose,” says Drosten.
This finding may have an impact on the therapy of the disease. For the study, among other things, the lungs of deceased patients were examined, said Drosten. What the researchers saw indicated that the virus was breathed into the lungs through the nose in the early stages of the disease. Wherever it landed, infection nests formed that spread down along the bronchial tree.
The virologist therefore suspects that it makes sense to administer antiviral medication as a nasal spray or through an inhaler. This is the more direct route than the absorption of a pharmaceutical substance from the intestine into the blood and then from the blood into the tissue. The pharmaceutical companies are already working on such drugs, according to Drosten.
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