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A mask, delivering treated air, heated to about 45degC (Like on a very hot day), to the sufferer of the cold for a few hours. Do it under supervision to forestall any heat stress issues.
Rhinoviruses are not tolerant of heat. In fact, an hour at 56degC will completely inactivate them. Similarly,
4 hours at 45C, which is easily tolerable, will take care of almost all respiratory bugs. Add in a little benzalkonium chloride (an antiseptic common in many medicines) and the process is hastened. The usual infusions of oil of wintergreen, etc. will make it all feel very therapeutic.
It will be uncomfortable for a few hours, but that's a small price to pay.
steam inhalers used to be all the rage - I can't see that this idea would make a cold worse!
http://www.purelyga...id=23519&wysiwyg=10
[po, Sep 08 2008]
[link]
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You're back! Did you have a wee cold? |
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Huh huh he... "wee"... he he huh he... |
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Does the time-tested method of steam
inhalation (face over a bowl of steaming
water with a towel over your head) work in
this principle? |
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You can't catch a cold in your wee, [xenzag]. Sorry to have to tell you that. |
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Probably does, [Leopard]. It's just a lot more likely to be used and effective if it involves a shitload of technology and a stern nurse making sure you keep breathing hot air, I guess. |
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This is bad science. Well, it's not half bad, but close. It doesn't address the other major way the virus is spread: contact. |
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I once proposed an idea to sequester every person on the planet for 6 weeks, in family groups. It was universally howled down, as I recall. The basis of the complaints was impracticality. |
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It would have rid the world of almost all communicable diseases and only cost six weeks productivity worldwide. As it is we lose that every decade, due to relatively benign communicable disease. |
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Unfortunately, the human body likewise will not stand internal temperatures of 45degC (a 40degC temperature is potentially lethal). While humans can survive external temperatures in this range, the body activates cooling mechanisms to keep the internal temperature down.
Since virii are present throughout the body, anything that will thoroughly kill the virus will kill the host as well. |
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MechE, the author says that the air at the mask is heated. This would not effectively heat the entire person, and I think that's not the intention. |
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I received "vaporizer treatment" during many childhood colds. The steamy room "loosened the phlegm" and "killed the germs" as a bonus. At least it "killed germs" external to the person, but those germs would have died anyway. This idea is similar, only more portable. |
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My point is that simply heating the air in the lungs won't kill the virus, as it is present throughout the body. To effectively kill the virus, you would have to raise the entire body temperature, and that is not possible to do without killing the host. |
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I've always thought that a modification of a conventional inline-heater shower would assist in this department. Most of the rhinoviruses live around the nose, mouth, facial area and one of the primary ways we spread them other than by airborne transmission is by touching our faces then touching other things that other people may touch, etc. |
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On occasions that I get colds, I spend a nice leisurely session in the shower getting my face, nose, mouth area fully hosed down by the shower. The more of a 'flushing' action one can apply, the better. Also, yet another good shampooing of the hair - even if not necessary - seems to do a good turn on such occasions, don't know why. |
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It might be feasible to have a 'mixer head' that introduces medication, antibiotic or a mild antibacterial additive to the shower, upon pressure of a certain trigger on the grip. I mean, it'd be a special shower head that you buy just for colds and flu and H5N1, not keep it on there all the time, but as a feature, facility and perhaps product, it might help, not hinder. |
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Providing you can convince people to shower directly into their nose and mouth without drowning, for as long as they can hold their breath. |
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I hate to greet you with bad news, but
this won't work. As has been pointed
out, the cold virus will be intracellular
once you have cold, and you can't raise
the relevant cells to 45°C without killing
them. Only "naked" virus can be killed
this way. |
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Experimental proof: when I used to get
colds, I went and saunad on a few
occassions. Air temperature in excess
of 90°C, no benefit whatsoever. |
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Isn't the whole response of developing a fever a strategy, the human body has lived to tell about, to make the body inhospitable to foreign pathogens without the home base advantage? |
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That oversimplifies things just a tad, [MB], [ME]. Rates of infection drop off rapidly in summer and peak in winter months. There's a good reason for that. |
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[MB], I appreciate that you spent a few minutes in the sauna at 90°C without effect. That is not what the idea is about, any more than it is about increasing the body temperature to 45°C, [ME]. Unless that's the REAL reason for the high casualty rate of US soldiers in Iraq... human bodies just can't survive air temperatures of 45°C, huh? |
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It's a controlled version of the bowl of steam and vapours, administered for a much longer period than hormal, backed up with medication. Like I said, it's never been done properly. The vast bulk of the virus organism is NOT intracellular, it's in the respiratory passages and therefore susceptible to this treatment. |
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That sort of attenuation of the population would give the body a better than even chance of fighting back early. |
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UB, you can certainly survive AIR
temperatures of 45°C (or, indeed,
considerably higher). |
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However, this is not at all the same as
raising your body temperature to 45°C
- you're body temperature will not
usually change by more than a degree
or so. Exertion (or other circumstances)
in this heat may raise your temperature
by a couple of degrees, which is enough
to make you feel pretty crap. |
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A body temperature of 40-41 degrees
is a severe fever. A body temperature
of 45°C is generally fatal. This is
probably why fever (if you accept that
it's an evolved response to try to
attenuate heat-labile viruses) seldom
goes above 40°C. |
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The upper part of the respiratory tract
is designed to bring air to around 37°C
and humidify it. I'd be very, very
surprised if inhaling hot air had any
significant effect on the finer
bronchioles and alveoli; if it did, it
would do a great deal of damage. |
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//It's a controlled version of the bowl of steam and vapours, administered for a much longer period than hormal, backed up with medication. Like I said, it's never been done properly// my mother - an asthmatic used it via my dad, a pharmacist/chemist for years but no stats available! |
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Yes, but UBie is aiming to raise your
*body* temperature to 45°C. You certainly
wouldn't have a cold after that. Or a
pulse. |
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Needs a kazoo feature/function button. |
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//Yes, but UBie is aiming to raise your *body* temperature to 45°C.// |
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No, I'm not! None so blind as those... mutter... mumble... |
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OK - you're trying to raise the temperature
of the respiratory epithelium to 45°C. It's
still a non-starter, sadly. |
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Why are colds and 'flu's less prevalent in summer, then? |
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People are generally less confined in the summer thus making communicable diseases less communicable. |
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Explaining the marked increase in colds and influenza in Brisbane every year, at the time of the annual exhibition. Everyone is out and about and it spreads like wildfire. |
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I'm largely basing this idea on my observations of what works best. Heat and warm air seem to alleviate symptoms and curtail the longevity of the condition. |
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I think the delay is that the bugs have to run the entire gauntlet before new strains get to us from Asia. |
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Is there an inverse relationship between UV radiation levels and the spread of these viruses? |
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There is a method of oxygen delivery that we use at my workplace (i.e. a hospital) where the oxygen is humidified to about 30 degrees for a face mask. Most people cannot stand it as it makes them feel flushed, sweaty and hot. I doubt people would tolerate a hotter mask for four hours! Bring on the Vicks instead. |
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Where are you, [p_t]? It's 30deg here today and it's still supposed to be winter. Temperature perception is all relative to ambient. If you're in 22deg airconditioning then 30 seems like a sauna. |
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