If this flu-busting nasal spray lives up to its promise, it will be a blockbuster. Scientists at Harvard Medical School have developed a simple nasal spray, made of harmless ingredients, that they reckon can protect us against flu,

A new study found a new drug-free nasal spray may protect against respiratory infections like COVID and the flu, according to Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “The COVID pandemic showed us what respiratory pathogens can do to humanity in a very short time,

Harvard scientists developed a nasal spray, PCANS, which can trap and deactivate pathogens, showing promise in respiratory illness prevention.

Most respiratory viruses, like the flu and COVID-19, enter the body through the nose. When an infected person exhales, sneezes, coughs, or even laughs, they release droplets containing the virus, which others can inhale. These pathogens attach to the nasal lining, replicate, and are further spread.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first nasal spray flu vaccine which can be administered by the patient or a caregiver. FluMist, produced by European pharmaceutical company and Covid vaccine-maker AstraZeneca, was announced last week and can be used by adults aged 49 and under.

FluMist is the only nasal flu vaccine, but it is not new. The FDA approved it in 2003 for people 5 to 49 years old before expanding eligibility in 2007 to children as young as 2 years old — requiring in both instances that it be administered by a vaccine provider.

Experiments in mice showed that a single dose of the PCANS nasal spray could effectively block infection from the influenza virus (PR8) at 25 times the lethal dose. Virus levels in the lungs were reduced by over 99.99%, and the inflammatory cells and cytokines in the lungs of treated mice were normal.