Possible benefit of regular use of potent mouthwashes in treatment of COVID-19

  

View ORCID ProfileKhalid Mukhtar, Suelen Qassim, Ibn-Masud Danjuma, Mohamed Elhassan Babiker, Mohamed Mohamedali, Housamaddeen Alfarhan, Abdel Rehim El-Tayeh, Mohammed Fakhri Khudhair, Muna Al.Maslamani, Mohammed Al-Dosari, Rumaisa Mohamed Elmustafa, Ahmed Hassib, Wesal Elhadary, Morwan Abdulkarim, Rajvir Singh

doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.27.20234997

This article is a preprint and has not been certified by peer review [what does this mean?]. It reports new medical research that has yet to be evaluated and so should not be used to guide clinical practice.

PDF: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.11.27.20234997v1.full.pdf

Abstract

As recently more in vitro studies demonstrated bactericidal and virucidal role for some of the over-the-counter mouthwash solutions. Meanwhile, Game theory and Evolutionary Biology suggests that inhibiting cooperation -reciprocal altruism- between two organisms can negatively affect their survival. Based on a set of relevant publications, it is proposed here that 2019-nCoV may be relying on a complicit; be it a certain organism (e.g. bacterial species), or a state of dysbiosis in general. On this premise, the regular use of potent disinfectant, (Hydrogen peroxide 2% and chlorhexidine gluconate mixed solution) for oral rinsing and gargling three times daily, through the repeated reduction in microbial load, was tested to determine whether it is able to induce a strain sufficient to inhibit reciprocal altruism, and hence halt the progression of the disease. through an RCT, (n = 93, intervention group: 47, control group: 46) the outcome tested in terms of in relation to the PCR/CT test of nasopharyngeal-oropharyngeal swabs from the baseline (at diagnosis), changes in the clinical category (improvement Vs. deterioration), and the final disposition (discharge Vs. Death) in different disease categories. Our findings showed, upon the regular use of mouthwash, more symptoms improvement after 2 days of treatment, higher rate of conversion to COVID19-negative PCR by 5 days of treatment, and less intubation and mortality, with all P-value < 0.05. There was also a trend of improvement in other outcome variables, though with no significant statistical difference; namely shorter hospital stay, less progression in Oxygen requirements, less rate of plasma transfusion, and extent of improvement in terms of disposition in relation to the clinical category on admission. were that can be justified by the complicit hypothesis, predict a rather preventive than therapeutic advantage, suggestive for a possible role for the regular use of potent mouthwash as an additional control measure in the community level.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Clinical Trial

ISRCTN10197987 https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN10197987

Funding Statement

The study is funded by Hamad Medical Corporation's Medical Research Center

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.11.27.20234997v1