Grand Rapids native hopes invention slows spread of COVID-19, other diseases

[Siwsan]

Very interesting article. I skipped past the bio information, right to the middle of the article to get to the pertinent information. (After reading the article, I wondered if maybe an interim 'treatment' might be simply using a common 'vaporizer', and just add a touch more salt.)



.......
According to Edwards, when people breathe, they inhale particles, some of which are infectious. Mucus lining in the upper airway is supposed to capture them, but if a person is older, overweight, etc., the mucus lining loses its function.

“If you have any pathogen like, Influenza or the SARS-CoV-2…It can go deep in your lungs where it could lead to severe infection or it can come out and infect other people,” said Edwards.

FEND restores the mucus. Edwards says it’s the nasal equivalent of washing hands.

“It’s a salt solution that we form in a cloud that looks like this,” said Edwards. “We turn it over, it creates a cloud, and then I breathe it through my nose, and the droplets coat my nose and my trachea.”

https://www.fox47news.com/news/local-news/grand-rapids/grand-rapids-native-hopes-invention-helps-in-treatment-of-covid-19-other-diseases

[dawg day]

1. I love inventors-- that 'can-do' attitude.

They really do see problems as "opportunities."

[Siwsan]

2. The funny thing is, he came up with this idea years ago.

And, really, it does make sense.

The whole theory of the mucus lining basically 'drying out' makes me thankful for my allergies! There's NOTHING dried out my nasal sinuses!

[BComplex]

3. Awesome invention! Kind of like a vaporized netti pot.

[Siwsan]

4. Precisely.

Which is why I bet using a vaporizer might be a good interim preventative. Just breathe deeply!

[ProfessorGAC]

5. Not So Sure

I don't know whethsr a vaporizer will create droplets capable of retaining the sodium chloride.
It might, because we've all probably see the mineral dust collect on the zurface near a vaporizer.
But, those minerals in the water are in hundredths of a percent or less.
Saline would have to be a hundred times that concentration.

[Siwsan]

6. Absolutely, It would be good to know the ratio he's using.

BUT, kind of like chicken soup - it probably wouldn't hurt. After all, they are saying heat is also a good virus killer. Just not TOO much heat, if you are blowing up up your nose.

[ProfessorGAC]

7. Heat

135°F for 15 minutes sufficiently denatures enough protein that the virus can no longer replicate. It is then just a pile of inert molecules.
But, those denaturation mechanisms are zero or first order. This means each 10°C cooler, the rate halves.
135°F is around 58°C. That would be uncomfortably hot.
So, take it down to 38°C (around 100°F). Means the 15 minutes quadrupled, to an hour.
The logistics of blowing warm air into one's nasal passages gets problematic.
Take it down to 86 degrees, and we're now in the 3.75 hour range.
The time is NOT cumulative.
Just not a practical preventative.
Unfortunately.
As to the concentration, standard saline is 9,000ppm sodium chloride. But, it's possible to go to 35+% at room temperature. So, his invention could use a broad range of salt solutions.

[jayfish]

8. MN or MI? -NT-

[Siwsan]

9. Michigan

[jayfish]

10. 'Twas But a Joke. -NT-

[tavernier]

11. If I don't turn my vaporizer on at night I have a sore throat in the morning.

We have air conditioning year around here in the tropics and even though the humidity is high outdoors, the AC does tend to dry out the air, sometimes a little too much.
I’ll be sure to run it day and night now since I agree, it probably can’t hurt.