Efficacy of steam inhalation as a prompt solution in combating COVID-19: A literature review

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Research Paper 01/12/2020
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Efficacy of steam inhalation as a prompt solution in combating COVID-19: A literature review

Behroz Zafar, Gohar Bano, Dr. Muhammad Kashif Sarfraz, Nimra Asad, Bakhtawar Zafar, Muhammad Abdullah Bhatti, Ali Hasan, Mubasher Rauf
Int. J. Biosci.17( 6), 14-25, December 2020.
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Abstract

As the Pandemic COVID-19 is a Public Health Emergency all over the world and due to the unavailability of effective treatment, the mortality rate is very high from this disease. So, a prompt solution is required for combating such a pandemic situation. As the COVID-19 shares the genetic similarity with SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV as 79% and 51.8% respectively. Both of these two types of Coronaviruses are sensitive to the High temperature and weather conditions. In the same way, temperature variation and Humidity may be an important factor affecting COVID-19 mortality. Some other types of Human Coronaviruses (HCoV-229E, HCoV-HKU1, HCoV-NL63, and HCoV-OC43), which generally cause common cold symptoms, have been shown to display strong winter seasonality and are invisible in summer months in temperate counties. This brief literature review defines temperature and humidity are countable factors in COVID-19 mortality and thus we can control this pandemic disease with a tool of these two factors i.e. applying the warm environmental conditions and raising the humidity artificially. Here are two ways for to apply this strategy; (1) Infected Person, i.e. the case in which the virus is inhaled in our respiratory tract, through the nose, throat, trachea, Bronchi, even in our Lungs, by inhaling the hot water steam the virus survival, replication will be reduced and making it less infective due to facing unfavorable environment several possible mechanisms stopped. (2) By using the Hot electric heaters and appliances in our living places, in this way we made the environment unfavorable for the virus and thus preventing its transmission to the healthy community. So, the effective and urgent solution in combating COVID-19 is reducing its survival, replication, and infectivity by controlling the temperature and humidity factor artificially to inhibit its further transmission to a healthy community.

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