Covid 19 second wave has enroched India ,recording highest covid cases and mortlity in india. As still there is no effective management, India is struggling to manage the surged covid casaes .The mutated virus has been a big troublesome as it being escaped in RTPCR and causing severe lung damage.

In such situation upholding NPIs(non pharmacological intervention) remains crucial such as and these typically include wearing masks in public, social distancing and regular handwashing.

Traditionally stream inhalation has been the first choice of the population for all sorts of the respiratory infections. Thus it is also been promoted in covid -19.

Way it infect

The virus has an external protein structure – namely, its spike protein that can bind onto human cells to facilitate viral entry.

Is steam inhalation completely contraindicated ?

The heated aurgument about its utility is in trend. Eventhought conclusive evidence about the cure by stem inhalation is not available as of now but some small scale encouraging researches have been the ray of hopes and needs bigger unbiased research for conclusion.

A small scale baised study conducted at Biochemistry and Pharmacology Laboratory, Meyer Children's University Hospital, Florence, Italy found the steam inhalation reduced the viral shedding in asymptomatic patient and reversed the symptom in mild symptomatic patient.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002432052031554X?via%3Dihub

 A study conducted at IMS has found steam inhalation a beneficial adjuvant treatment for covid 19

 https://ijcrr.com/uploads/3450_pdf.pdf

Temperature and virus

Most virus are thermolabile and are affected by increased temperatre in any of its life cycle

Rhino virus at 46°C is found to affects its replication and makes it inactive  

Temperatures of 56 °C for 15 and 30 minutes in liquid environments, respectively, were enough to breakdown SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, the researchers wrote

 

Steam inhalation

Steam inhalation cycles are thus considered to be useful in damaging the capsid of the SARS-CoV-2 envelope and prevent infection, write the researchers. They write that the European Pharmacopoeia VI edition has recommended steam inhalations as a procedure to treat respiratory diseases.

Can steam inhalation be included under non pharmacological intervention?

Steam inhalation is evidently beneficial in upper respiratory infection

•  It reduces the mucosal odema and releaves congestion
•  It soothe inflamed mucosa of laryngeal surface reduce the viscosisty of mucus and make easy air flow
• It causes local capillary dilation and increases blood thus increasing lymphocytes to fight local infection.

As upper respiratory tract being the path for the entry keeping them healthy and immune is always a better a way to prevent covid infection.

How to perform steam inhalation?

 

• Inhale slowly and deeply
• Inhale through nose and exhale through mouth
• Inhale through mouth and exhale through mouth
• Inhaling through mouth and exhaling through mouth is contraindicated in Ayurveda as it causes damage to the eyes
• Inhale at least two to five minutes.
• Don’t steam for more than 10-15 minutes per session. However, you can repeat steam therapy twice or thrice in a day to ease congestion or if you still suffer from symptoms.
• Be cautious of the scald burns as steam can cause burns easily

(3 seconds of exposure to 140°F/60°C water to cause a burn)

Conclusion

Steam inhalation is not the ultimate cure for covid and when used as adjuvant has found beneficiary result in some small scale studies,when used cautiously.In aymptomatic patient it can reduce the viral shedding significantly and can also help in keeping the upper respiratory tract health.As the upper respiratory being the prime path for the entry of virus keep them healthy can potentially contribute for prevention of the infection.