Does neomycin in your nose help prevent covid? it didn't work for me.

 

A colleague--Michael Lewis M.D.-- turned me on a study in rodents that was apparently performed  at Massachusetts Institute of Technology by Tianyang Mao

In their study, they found that intranasal delivery of neomycin, a generic aminoglycoside antibiotic, to rodents, induces the expression of interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs) in the nasal mucosa that is independent of the commensal microbiota. Prophylactic or therapeutic administration of neomycin provided significant protection against upper respiratory infection and lethal disease in a mouse model of COVID-19. Furthermore, neomycin treatment protected Mx1 congenic mice from upper and lower respiratory infections with a highly virulent strain of influenza A virus.

In healthy humans, intranasal application of neomycin-containing Neosporin ointment was well tolerated and effective at inducing ISG expression in the nose in a subset of participants.

These findings suggest that neomycin has the potential to be harnessed as a host-directed antiviral strategy for the prevention and treatment of respiratory viral infections.

https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Tianyang-Mao-2127102575

Time magazine:  Can Neosporin Protect You From Getting COVID-19?

BY jAMIE dUCHARME

APRIL 26, 2024 2:19 PM EDT

A small study recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences presents a lower-tech, idea. Coating the inside of the nose with the over-the-counter antibiotic ointment Neosporin seems to trigger an immune response that may help the body repel respiratory viruses like those that cause COVID-19 and the flu, the study suggests.

The research raises the idea that Neosporin could serve as an “extra layer” of protection against respiratory illnesses, on top of existing tools like vaccines and masks, says study co-author Akiko Iwasaki, an immunobiologist at the Yale School of Medicine and one of the U.S.’ leading nasal vaccine researchers says it’s still preliminary, she cautions. For the new study, her team had 12 people apply Neosporin inside their nostrils twice a day for a week, while another seven people used Vaseline for comparison. At several points during the study, the researchers swabbed the participants’ noses and ran PCR tests to see what was going on inside.

They found that Neosporin—and specifically one of its active ingredients, the antibiotic neomycin sulfate—seems to stimulate receptors in the nose that “are fooled into thinking there’s a viral infection” and in turn create “a barrier that’s put up against any virus,” Iwasaki explains. In theory, she says, that means it could protect against a range of different infections.

Right now, though, that’s just a theory.  The makers of Neosporin emphasize that their product has not "been tested or formulated to prevent against COVID-19 or any other virus," and also note that they do not advise putting the product inside the eyes, nose, or mouth.

Dr. James Crowe, who directs the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center. “I’m skeptical it would be strongly effective in people,” Crowe says. “If you have a modest effect on the virus, is that enough to really benefit you clinically?”

So should you smear Neosporin in your nose next time a Covid wave hits?

Problem:  Antibiotic resistance is a growing concern and could this approach damage the delicate inner nose or have other side effects over time? “It’s great science, but there’s still a long way to go before we should put it in our noses,” agrees Dr. Sean Liu, an infectious disease physician at New York’s Mount Sinai health system who was also not involved in the study.

Iwasaki agrees that more research is necessary. She says the next step is testing higher doses of neomycin, since Neosporin contains a fairly small amount that may not be enough to provide robust protection for humans.

https://time.com/6971392/neosporin-covid-19-antiviral-study/

 

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