Regular mouthwashes may help destroy coronavirus, study suggests

Mouthwash.
(Image credit: iStock.)

Regular, over-the-counter mouthwashes have shown "promising signs" of killing the COVID-19 coronavirus in saliva, scientists at Cardiff University in Wales have found.

The study discovered that mouthwashes containing at least 0.07 percent cetylpyridinium chloride destroyed the virus within 30 seconds of being exposed to it in a lab. The report hasn't been peer reviewed, and the next step is to see if mouthwashes are as effective as they are in patients as they were in the lab setting. Results from a clinical trial at the University Hospital of Wales are expected next year.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.