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In mice, the treatment decreased infections caused by the Influenza A virus:
Inhaling low concentrations of ethanol vapor can disable the influenza A virus in mice, without harmful side effects, says a new study by scientists at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST). The scientists believe it may also treat similar viruses such as the one that causes Covid-19.
[...] "Ethanol is an effective disinfectant for body surfaces, so we wanted to know whether ethanol could also be effective inside the body," said Dr. Miho Tamai, a scientist in Prof. Ishikawa's lab.
Using a humidifier to produce ethanol vapor in a small container, they found that when mice infected with influenza A inhale the vapor for ten minutes, the virus is inactivated. The study is published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.
Influenza A viruses accumulate in a thin fluid layer covering lung cells that protect the surface of the airway. The scientists think that the ethanol vapor must increase ethanol concentrations in the fluid to 20% to successfully treat the infection. This concentration is not toxic to lung cells the scientists created in the lab to mimic human cells. At body temperature, 20% ethanol can not only inactivate the influenza A virus outside of the cells in one minute, but also stop the virus from replicating inside these cells.
[...] Influenza A is a virus that has an outer membrane, called an envelope. "Ethanol vapor may also inactivate other enveloped viruses such as SARS-CoV-2," Prof. Ishikawa said, and so far, all viruses that have caused pandemics have been enveloped. "Once the next pandemic happens, maybe we can quickly apply the ethanol vapor inhalation therapy to prevent or cure the disease," he explained.
[...] The researchers believe that ethanol vapor inhalation treatment has great potential as a versatile and cost-effective new therapy against various respiratory infectious diseases. But Prof. Ishikawa cautioned that people should not try using ethanol as a therapy on their own. "That may lead to serious side-effects or explosion risks," he said. "The efficacy and safety of this new treatment on humans and other mammals should be carefully evaluated in the future."
Journal Reference:
Miho Tamai et al., Effect of Ethanol Vapor Inhalation Treatment on Lethal Respiratory Viral Infection With Influenza A, The Journal of Infectious Diseases, 2023; https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiad089
(Score: 3, Insightful) by looorg on Tuesday June 06, @10:06AM (5 children)
> ... inhale the vapor for ten minutes
How drunk did the mice become and did it have a hangover?
> ... cautioned that people should not try using ethanol as a therapy on their own.
To late. People been doing that for thousands of years already.
Personally I prefer my ethanol aged in oak barrels and then drinking it. But sure I could huff it if needed.
Is this the cure for the next pandemic? It might go down better then getting multiple injections.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 06, @10:49AM
You can inject ethanol.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday June 06, @03:38PM (3 children)
>aged in oak barrels
If those oak barrels are charred on the inside, then what the aging process is doing is extracting nasty unwanted chemicals from the fermentation/distillation process into the "charcoal filter" on the sides of the barrel.
If the ethanol has been truly refined to purity, perhaps afterwards diluted with some distilled water, then it won't have any of those complex enjoyable flavors on the tongue, but neither will it have much in the way of hangover inducing nasties in it either, at least if you don't use it to the point of dehydration.
I'm pretty sure the actual buzz is pretty much the same based on blood alcohol levels; don't try a breathalyzer right after the inhalation therapy, just blowing a breathalyzer immediately after drinking a shot of 80 proof rum will show absurdly high (erroneous) readings. However, a lot of how buzzed people perceive themselves to be often comes from those other non-alcoholic compounds found in the hangover inducing blends, particularly the cheaper ones.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/24/7408365/
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Wednesday June 07, @02:51AM (1 child)
Someone did a test of very expensive vodka vs ultra-cheap vodka that had been run multiple times through a Britta filter, and concluded the only difference was in the level of filtering.
[I have no idea. I prefer rum, and very little of it.]
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday June 07, @11:47AM
My wife used to only drink Bacardi Rum, others she tried bothered her too much. One day I bought a jug of Goslings dark to try, and it's much much better, even she agreed, after many loud protests of "anything other than Bacardi gives me a terrible hangover.". The Goslings formula is of course secret, but I believe heavily charred barrels are part of it. The same alcohol is there, but lacking those other organics it's much less harsh to drink and also less hangover inducing.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/24/7408365/
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 07, @09:22AM
Beer, vodka, whisky and rum OK.
Not sure what they put in wine that makes it worse - is it the added sulfites? Beer supposedly would have some sulfites though.