A Simple, Inexpensive Way to Prevent and Treat Respiratory Infections?

Past influenza and coronavirus pandemics have underlined the importance of finding simple and inexpensive ways to prevent and treat respiratory infections. Respiratory viruses typically infect the upper respiratory tract, producing potentially life-threatening lower respiratory tract infections.

A team from Yale University extended prior work showing that intranasal delivery of neomycin induced expression of multiple interferon-stimulated genes — through mechanisms independent of the drug's antibacterial effects. Activation of these genes is an important part of containing viral infections. The team now demonstrates that activation of these genes in mice has dose-dependent benefits for both preventing and treating infection with SARS-CoV-2 (…