According to a study, physical plasma kills corona viruses

According to scientists, physical plasma, which is already used in medicine to heal wounds, kills corona viruses. A research team from the Leibniz Institute for Plasma Research and Technology (INP) Greifswald has now been able to show this for the first time in laboratory experiments, an INP spokesman announced on Tuesday. The new procedure promises innovative therapies for Covid-19 and other infectious diseases.

Physical plasma is also called the fourth aggregate state of matter. It has been used in medicine for several years. “Clinical successes are increasingly being recorded, particularly in the healing of chronic wounds,” said the spokesman. The effectiveness is based, among other things, on the ability of the plasma to kill pathogens and thus fight the wound infection. The effectiveness against a variety of microorganisms - including multi-resistant germs - has already been proven many times. So far, there have been comparatively few studies on its effectiveness against viruses.

In Greifswald it has now been shown that the ability of viruses to penetrate cells is significantly restricted after contact with a newly developed plasma jet. In the specific experiment, hepatitis viruses from mice (MHV-A59-eGFP), which belong to the group of corona viruses, were treated. The effect is due to free radicals that form the plasma.

The goal of the researchers is a plasma device that can be used to fight viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 directly on the oral mucosa, explained the head of plasma medicine at the INP, Thomas von Woedtke. The laboratory results are an important step in this direction. "We were able to identify the mechanism of virus inactivation."