The Anti-Allergy Nasal Spray That Kills COVID & More

It’s a surprising headline, because the primary function of an anti-allergy medication is generally to dial down the immune system.

Thus, if you want to defend against a virus, then one would expect that the last thing you’d want to squirt up your nose (aside, perhaps, from the virus itself) would be an anti-allergen.

And yet…

Azelastine’s antiviral powers

Researchers (Dr. Thorsten Lehr et al.) investigated the effects of a common anti-allergy nasal spray (azelastine) against various kinds of respiratory virus infection, including COVID.

What they did: 450 participants were split into two groups; 227 used azelastine nasal spray three times daily for 56 days, 223 used a placebo spray.

What they found: only 2.2% of the azelastine group got infected with SARS-CoV-2 versus 6.7% in the placebo group, a very statistically-significant threefold difference.

They further found: only 1.8% of the azelastine group got infected with rhinovirus versus 6.3% in the placebo group, reflecting the anti-COVID result.

But COVID and rhinovirus are both enteroviruses, and enterovirus can often be beaten with measures that don’t work on other viruses, because the chemical “envelope” that contains them can be disrupted—not something one can do vs an unenveloped virus (such as influenza) which doesn’t have an envelope to disrupt.

So, how does it perform vs flu? There’s good and bad news:

• Good news: azelastine does have anti-viral properties that work against flu also
• Bad news: or rather, good for the study participants but bad for science—the overall number of cases of flu in this study population was too low for statistical significance.

For azelastine’s antiviral-vs-flu properties, see this older, in vitro study:

Antiviral Potential of Azelastine against Major Respiratory Viruses

For the study we’ve been talking about today, you can find the paper itself here:

Azelastine Nasal Spray for Prevention of SARS-CoV-2 Infections

How useful is this?

The researchers emphasize (as researchers always do) the need for larger, multicentre studies to confirm results and test effectiveness against other respiratory pathogens, but as it stands, they are confident enough to say that this could serve as a cheap, accessible preventive option, particularly for vulnerable groups and/or during travel and high-risk periods (i.e. when there’s a local spike in cases, and/or you will be unavoidably in a high-risk situation, e.g. being in a closed environment with many people for a while).

If you’d like some, you can get it from your local pharmacy or online; we don’t sell it, but here’s an example product for your convenience.

There, of course, also other ways to improve the odds to keep yourself and your loved ones safe:

Vaccines are considered the “gold standard” against COVID and many other infectious diseases, for their very high rate of efficacy, clear science, and at least moderately lasting effects (i.e., it’s not something like handwashing*, which must be redone very frequently).

Since vaccines are not without their popular misunderstanders, we have written a little about that, here: Vaccine Mythbusting

*See also: The Truth About Handwashing ← for another mythbusting edition, covering what actually works against what, and what doesn’t—as well as the disparity between people’s self-reports of handwashing, and how often/well they actually wash their hands!

So, those are important ones, but still not the only things we can do; consider for example: Beyond Supplements: The Real Immune-Boosters! ← most people don’t know these things and the huge difference they make

And for that matter: Why Some People Get Sick More (And How To Not Be One Of Them) ← for a very prophylactic approach

Take care!