Gargling salt water can reduce symptoms and duration of Covid-19: Study

Team Udayavani, May 21, 2020, 12:16 PM IST

There has been lot of buzz regarding gargling of salt water preventing Covid-19 or being a cure for Covid-19 which has been proved false. But now a new study has revealed that gargling salt water could not only reduce your symptoms, but also reduce the duration of the disease

Researchers from Edinburgh University have found that gargling salt water can help to reduce symptoms and duration of Covid-19. But it must be noted that it cannot prevent or cure Covid-19.

The study was published in the Journal of Global Health and was led by Dr Sandeep Ramalingam.

Sources claim, the study involved 66 patients with nose and throat infections and among them a few were given their routine treatment, and a few were asked to gargle salt water.

After 12 days, the researchers took swabs of the patients’ noses, and discovered that those who had gargled salt water had reduced symptoms and had an average of 2.5 days less of the infection

According to the study, “ Post-hoc analysis of a pilot randomised controlled trial of hypertonic saline nasal irrigation and gargling in adults with upper respiratory tract infection found that in a subgroup with alpha and beta coronavirus infection, the intervention appeared likely to be effective in reducing symptoms and duration of the illness. However, it is unclear if hypertonic saline nasal irrigation and gargling is also effective in Covid-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2, a trial is therefore urgently needed.”