Health Professionals Petition WHO for Guidance: People Should Use Nasal Sprays to Combat COVID-19 Pandemic; Doctors Use in Treating Patients
Today, a consortium of health professionals petitioned the World Health Organization to issue Guidance calling on: all people to use nasal sprays to combat the COVID-19 pandemic; doctors to use them in treating COVID-19 patients; and, Member-States to implement public health policies promoting the use of nasal sprays to both prevent and treat COVID-19.
The petition asks the WHO to promulgate guidance that promotes the use of nasal sprays with data indicating that they are antiviral (blocks viral adhesion), virucidal (kills or deactivates the virus), anti-bacterial (block bacteria, in particular pneumonia bacteria) and bactericidal (kills bacteria, in particular pneumonia bacteria).
“We have data showing that certain nasal sprays don’t just wash away the virus. Certain sprays actually block, deactivate and/or kill the virus,” said Dr. Gustavo Ferrer, a respiratory illness expert who has conducted research on the use of nasal sprays to combat COVID-19, and is among the petitioners.
As a result, the petition calls specifically for WHO Guidance to focus on the use of nasal sprays that contain Xylitol and grapefruit seed extract. Recent studies have found that these natural components used together are antiviral (they block SARS-CoV-2 adhesion to the nasal membrane) and virucidal (they kill or deactivate the virus). One such spray, Xlear, is currently widely available in the US. Xlear has been used by millions of people worldwide, over twenty-plus years, without any adverse effects reported.
Additionally, a new, small clinical study found Xlear lessens the severity and shortens the duration of COVID-19 illnesses, and reduces the risk of further transmission, which is why the petition calls for guidance to doctors to use it as an adjunct to current treatments.
“Nasal sprays are proven safe, inexpensive, non-invasive, easy to use and you can get them off-the-shelf at your local store around the world. There is a growing body of data that sprays, in particular Xlear, can help combat the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s pure commonsense,” Nathan Jones, CEO of Xlear said.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005242/en/
Contact information
Jeff Gulko
617.304.7339
jeff@thegulkogroup.com
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
U.S. Original Equipment Automotive Industry Must Transform and Collaborate for Future Resilience and Relevance Finds Joint Research by Arthur D. Little and MEMA OE Suppliers22.11.2025 05:20:00 EET | Press release
At a time of unprecedented volatility, the U.S. original equipment (OE) automotive industry is at an inflection point. Building resilience and driving reshoring requires concerted actions from policymakers, original equipment manufacturers and suppliers. This is the key message from Turbocharging US Automotive Manufacturing Competitiveness, an in-depth Arthur D. Little (ADL) landmark study, carried out in conjunction with industry body MEMA Original Equipment Suppliers. The study draws on research from over 100 global OE automotive suppliers with major U.S. presence and more than 30 interviews with C-suite executives of leading global OE automotive suppliers. Based on ADL analysis, the research provides clear recommendations for transforming the industry to strengthen supply chain resilience and underpin national competitiveness and global relevance. High import dependence exposes the U.S. OE automotive supply chain to cost volatility and geopolitical risk. Current reshoring efforts, d
AI Takes Out the Trash: Largest U.S. Recycling Project to Extend Landfill Life for Virginia Residents21.11.2025 14:30:00 EET | Press release
The Southeastern Public Service Authority of Virginia (“SPSA”), the regional waste authority for South Hampton Roads, has signed a 20-year contract with Commonwealth Sortation LLC, an affiliate of AMP Robotics Corporation (together, “AMP”), to provide solid waste processing services for SPSA’s eight member communities and their 1.2 million residents. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251120330758/en/ Building on a nearly two-year pilot project in Portsmouth—which featured an AMP ONE™ system capable of processing up to 150 tons of locally sourced municipal solid waste (“MSW”) per day—AMP will now scale its technology region-wide. Under this long-term partnership, which will facilitate the largest recycling project in the country, AMP will deploy additional MSW sortation lines and an organics management system capable of processing 540,000 tons annually to divert half of the waste SPSA brings to AMP facilities. AM
RSA Recognized for the Second Consecutive Year in the 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Access Management21.11.2025 14:00:00 EET | Press release
RSA, the security-first identity leader, today announced that RSA® ID Plus has been recognized for the second year in a row in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Access Management. “The RSA Access Management strategy has never been about being everything to everyone,” said Greg Nelson, RSA CEO. “We specialize in protecting organizations where risk tolerance is at its lowest and security requirements are at their highest. Our focus is intentional: providing security-first access management that supports compliance, ensures resilience, and delivers confidence at scale.” “RSA specializes in the workforce access management use cases where security, compliance, and operational resilience are non-negotiables,” said Jim Taylor, RSA President, Chief Product and Strategy Officer. “Our product development strategy will continue to emphasize the key qualities that highly regulated industries prioritize, including user experience, strong support for workforce management, and intelligent posture mana
NIQ and Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) Collaborate to Measure Reach and Impact of Cross-Platform Ad Campaigns in Italy21.11.2025 10:00:00 EET | Press release
NIQ and Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) have announced a new collaboration to study the effectiveness of cross-platform advertising across linear TV and Amazon Ads inventory in Italy. Through the collaboration advertisers and agencies will gain actionable insights into the relative performance of ad placements across digital, linear TV and streaming environments, including how each contributes to incremental reach and influences product purchases on Amazon’s ecommerce platforms. The insights are made possible by using high-quality data from Sinottica®—a well-established single-source consumer panel in Italy owned by NIQ—with data from Amazon Marketing Cloud. Specifically, the research will leverage Sinottica’s linear TV data alongside several Amazon inventory sources, including Amazon DSP, Sponsored Ads (Products, Brands, Display), and Streaming TV (Prime Video, Twitch, Fire TV). This approach will enable a deeper understanding of how ad exposure across digital and TV channels translates
Ahead of Holiday Season, Visa Identifies Five Transformative Forces Reshaping Global Payment Security20.11.2025 20:50:00 EET | Press release
To celebrate International Fraud Awareness Week, Visa (NYSE: V) today released its Fall 2025 Biannual Threats Report, revealing five forces that are transforming the global payments security landscape. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251120412198/en/ The report, produced by Visa's Payment Ecosystem Risk and Control (PERC) team, draws on intelligence from Visa's global network to identify how criminal operations are evolving with unprecedented speed, scale, and sophistication. "The payments ecosystem is experiencing a paradigm shift in how fraud operates," said Paul Fabara, Chief Risk and Client Services Officer at Visa. "Criminals are no longer working as opportunistic individuals-- they're operating like tech startups, building reusable infrastructure and deploying systematic, industrial-scale operations that challenge conventional defenses. Understanding these evolving forces is critical for the entire ecosy
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom