Efficacy and Safety of Nebulized Ethanol Inhalation in COVID-19 Treatment. A Randomized, Clinical Trial

BackgroundConsidering anti coronavirus effects of ethanol, the efficacy of its administration was evaluated in this research. Because of respiratory tract entrance of virus in COVID-19, this study was done by inhalation of nebulized ethanol. MethodsNinety-nine positive SARS-CoV-2-PCR patients who had been admitted at a respiratory clinic were included in this study. Patients were randomly assigned to the control (distilled water spray) and intervention (35% ethanol spray) group. Both groups were instructed to inhale 3 puffs of spray and inhale it, every six hours for a week. Global symptomatic score (GSS), clinical status scale,0020Blood Oxygenation, and C-Reactive Protein (CRP) at the first visit and days 3, 7, 14 were measured and compared between groups. ResultsThe GSS decreased more and faster in the intervention group (ethanol) (1.4+1.4 vs 2.3+1.7, P=0.035) two weeks after starting intervention. On day 14, the odds of intervention group to have better clinical status was 5.715 times (95% CI, 2.47 to 13.19) than of control group a statistically significant effect, Wald {chi}2 (1) =16.67, P =0.001. Blood oxygen saturation also improved earlier in the ethanol group but without statistical significance difference. The readmission rate was lower in the intervention group (zero vs 10.9%, P=0.02). ConclusionInhaled ethanol seems to be effective in improvement, mitigating clinical symptoms and reducing the need to repeat treatment. Considering the low cost, availability and no significant adverse events of ethanol, research and additional efforts are recommended to evaluate its curative effects in the early stages of COVID-19.