State Warns South Dakotans Not to Try SDSU Prof’s Anti-Covid Nasal Spray

A South Dakota State University mechanical engineering professor says that if you haven’t gotten your coronavirus vaccine yet, you could still help protect yourself and your neighbors from the pandemic by squirting some iodine homebrew in your nose at an angle.

No, really—Dr. Saikat Bau’s nasal spray innovation is science on SDSU’s website:

For a National Science Foundation-funded COVID-19 research project, Basu developed a model that uses breathing rates to track which droplet sizes are likely to reach the upper part of the throat behind the nasal passages and above the esophagus and voice box, known as the nasopharynx. Other research studies show viral particles that reach this part of the respiratory tract are most likely to cause infection.

Based on this work, Basu and collaborators from Boston University and Fractal Therapeutics in Cambridge, Massachusetts determined the spray bottle must be held in a near-horizontal position to deliver a virus-fighting povidone-iodine solution into the nasopharynx. Povidone iodine is marketed under the Betadine trademark and has been used as an antimicrobial for more than 20 years.

“In the absence of vaccines, there should be other layers of protection and this might be one of them,” said Basu. He noted getting the spray to the nasopharynx is crucial. The ciliated cells that line the nasopharynx have a surface receptor, known as ACE2, which the novel coronavirus uses to enter the cells. From there, the infection spreads into the lungs [Christie Delfanian, “SDSU Professor Improves Covid-19 Prevention Protocol,” SDSU News, 2021.05.11].

Basu has been researching nasal sprays since before coronavirus and hydroxychloroquine became household words. Given how quickly South Dakota leaped at the chance to study hydroxychloroquine as a way to fight the pandemic on the recommendation of one out-of-state non-expert, surely the state is on fire to promote solid anti-pandemic science from one of our own experts, right?

He conducted his research before, during and after his trip to India and published a paper on it by May 1, but the South Dakota Department of Health cautions against its use.

“Given no U.S. studies have been conducted on this, the SDDOH cannot advocate for, or recommend, the use of this nasal spray until further research is done and it receives FDA approval,” spokesman Daniel Bucheli said. “Neither Secretary Kim Malsam-Rysdon or Dr. Joshua Clayton have spoken about this, given it’s not an approved COVID-19 prevention or treatment tool” [Morgan Matzen, “South Dakota State Professor Researching Nasal Spray as Added Protection Against Covid-19,” that Sioux Falls paper, 2021.05.24].

That’s odd: I’d think Dr. Baku’s research would prompt the state to take the lead in conducting the first clinical trial of this innovative and likely inexpensive means of fighting the pandemic. We could surely find lots of South Dakota volunteers who’d be happy to have a scientific excuse to further delay getting their Dr. Fauci shots: Oh, I’d get the coronavirus vaccine, but I’m donating my nostrils to science for a few weeks to see if this SDSU nasal spray keeps me from getting covid! 

After hydroxychloroquine flopped, you said we’d “continue to invest our resources into the most promising approaches to preventing and treating COVID-19.” Now Dr. Basu is offering a promising homegrown approach right under our noses! So come on, Kristi! Launch a statewide clinical trial! Dr. Basu’s Jackrabbit Nose Drops could be South Dakota’s Next Big Thing!