In this video Surfers Health Medical Centre Practice Principal Dr Mark Jeffery explains how photodynamic therapy can help kill viruses by destroying the viral lipid membranes and breaking down its nucleic acid.
He discusses a recently published study showing that photodynamic therapy, in combination with Vitamin B2, can even help combat some respiratory infections caused by strains of Coronavirus.
In the study, which was published in Medical & Clinical Research, 40 patients in the early stages of SARS-CoV-2 infection were divided into two groups. The experiment group received photodynamic therapy in combination with Vitamin B2 and daily viral testing, while the control group received conventional care and testing. At the end of seven days, researchers found significant improvements in the experiment group with 14 out of 20 patients testing negative for the virus, while the other six patients showed significantly reduced viral load. No significant improvements were seen in the control group.
“Photodynamic inactivation of viruses could be a useful form of treatment if you become infected with some strains of the Coronavirus,” said Dr Jeffery.
Dr Jeffery believes there are advantages of using photodynamic therapy to inactivate viruses.
“Variants cannot become resistant to this type of treatment,” Dr Jeffery said. “If anybody is carrying a virus, even if they are asymptomatic, photodynamic therapy in combination with Vitamin B2 would shorten the duration of the illness and reduce the risk of spread to others.”
Surfers Health Medical Centre health and wellness writer Suvi Mahonen caught up with Dr Jeffery recently to learn more about the ramifications of the study, and how a new viral inactivation kit produced by Weber Medical could help in our fight against respiratory viral infections.
Read the full study here.
For more information on the Weber Medical viral inactivation kit visit Weber Medical.
Suvi Mahonen is a Surfers Paradise-based journalist. Her work appears in The Australian, the Australian Quarterly, Mamamia and other health and lifestyle publications. Follow her on Facebook, YouTube and online art-selling platform Redbubble.
