Saline Nasal Wash Helps Kids Fight Colds, Flu

By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter
Monday, January 21, 2008; 12:00 AM

MONDAY, Jan. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Rinsing with a special saline nasal
wash made from Atlantic seawater improves symptoms in children with
colds and flu, and may prevent recurrence of these infections, a new
study claims.

"We brush our teeth every day, however, we do not pay attention to our
noses -- a potential gate for infection," said study co-author Dr. Jana
Skoupa, of Pharma Projects in Prague, Czech Republic. "Nasal wash should
be used, based on our findings, immediately."

The study seems to confirm what many doctors already know.

"We have recommended this for years. This study gives some objective
evidence," said Dr. Jonathan Field, emeritus director of the pediatric
allergy and asthma clinic at New York University/Bellevue Medical Center
in New York City.

An alternative to the many cough and cold medications that line
drugstore shelves comes not a moment too soon.

Just last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an advisory
stating that over-the-counter cough and cold medicines should not be
given to infants and children under the age of 2. The agency has not
come to a final decision on the use of such products in children aged 2
to 11.

"This is very promising, but there need to be more studies to confirm
what the authors have found," Dr. Tom DeWitt, director of general
pediatrics at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. "It is a
suggestion that it may be an alternative to cold preparations that the
FDA [recently issued a public health advisory about]."

The saline technique could provide a more holistic alternative to such
over-the-counter medications, and has the added advantage of having
little downside and not contributing to the growing problem of
antibiotic resistance.

The study, published in the January issue of theArchives of
Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, involved about 400 children aged 6
to 10 with colds or the flu. The children were randomly assigned to
receive either standard medication plus the nasal wash, or standard
medication alone.

The nasal wash formula was given six times a day for eight weeks, then
three times a day for the next four weeks.

By the second visit, patients receiving the nasal wash had less stuffy
and runny noses. By eight weeks, those in this group had less severe
sore throats, coughs, nasal obstructions and secretions.

Also, after week eight, only 9 percent of children in the saline group
were using fever-reducing drugs, compared with 33 percent in the control
group; only 5 percent were using decongestants, versus 47 percent in the
control group; and only 6 percent of saline recipients were using
antibiotics, compared with 21 percent in the control group. Children
using the nasal wash also had shorter illnesses and fewer missed school
days.

Compliance, however, may become an issue outside the context of a
clinical study. "They did it six times a day," DeWitt pointed out. "How
many parents are going to do that six times a day?"

The trial was funded by French company Goemar Laboratoires, which makes
the product, Physiomer, that used in the study.

"As far as I know, Physiomer is not available in the U.S. It is the
leading brand in Europe," Skoupa said. "The manufacturing process uses
electro-dialysis (not simple dilution of seawater) to achieve
isotonicity. This results in preserving the majority of minerals and
trace elements in similar concentrations to seawater from the Atlantic
Ocean."

An isotonic solution has the same concentration of salt as the human body.

"I would not just simply expect a normal saline solution to be the same
thing," DeWitt said.

More information

The Medical College of Wisconsin has more on respiratory infections in
children.

SOURCES: Jana Skoupa, M.D., Pharma Projects, Prague, Czech Republic;
Jonathan Field, M.D., emeritus director, pediatric allergy and asthma
clinic, New York University/Bellevue Medical Center, New York City; Tom
DeWitt, M.D., director, general pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's
Hospital Medical Center; January 2008Archives of Otolaryngology-Head &
Neck Surgery

[
This is a strange study.  They compared irrigation with specially
prepared sea water against not doing irrigation at all.  But they should
have also compared sea water irrigation against irrigation with ordinary
saline.  If Dr. Grossan is right, then it's simply the mechanical action
of the irrigation that is flushing out germs and the ICAM protein that
viruses bind to.  Maybe there's nothing special about *sea* water other
than its saline content?
]