Yesterday we held the first of four free webinars, Supercharge Yourself Against Coronavirus, and one of the three doctors we were interviewing revealed how a cheap and simple substance we can all get hold of can kill viruses like COVID-19.
The doctor was Dr Sarah Myhill, a general practitioner practicing out of rural Wales, who worked for the National Health Service for 20 years before setting up in private practice to concentrate more on the root cause of her patients’ illnesses, concentrating on diet, micronutrient status, allergies and lifestyle changes.
Dr Myhill is now one of the world’s experts in treating ME/chronic fatigue, but in her long practice she has seen and treated virtually every type of illness, many of them the result of infections.
The potent virus killer she was referring to is the cheap and simple Lugol’s iodine, so named because it was developed by the French doctor, J. G. A. Lugol, who first mixed iodine and potassium iodine in water with the intention of using it as a disinfectant.
To this day, this form of iodine is used as an antiseptic on patients and in operating rooms because it kills bugs of every description but in low doses is non-toxic to the body’s cells involved with healing.
‘Indeed, studies show it enhances healing,’ writes Dr. Myhill in her book The Infection Game – Life is an Arms Race. ‘This is why the surgeons love it. Skin painted with iodine before incision does not get infected and heals perfectly.’
Dr Myhill considers iodine one of the tools that has revolutionized her practice. ‘Like vitamin C it contact-kills all microbes. It is the only agent that is consistently active against gram positive and gram-negative bacteria, mycobacteria, spores, amoebic cysts, fungi, protozoa, yeasts, drug-resistant bacteria such as MRSA and viruses.’
The science bears this out.
After the outbreak of the MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) virus in the Middle East, scientists concluded that human-to-human transmission of the virus required close contact, which mainly occurred in healthcare settings. Doctors were keen to find a substance that could prevent such transmission.
A team from the Institute of Virology, Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology and the Philipps University of Marburg in Germany decided to carry out a study (Infect Dis Ther. 2015 Dec; 4(4): 491–501) using very low doses of iodine as a skin cleanser, a surgical scrub and a mouthwash gargle against two types of viruses: A Modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) and the MERS virus.
In both instances, the team were able to inactivate levels of virus corresponding to more than 99.99 percent.
Other papers have noted that evidence shows that iodine has a generally a 99.99 percent virus-killing activity against a number of widespread and worrying viruses, including hepatitis A, SARS (Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome) coronavirus Enterovirus 71, Coxsackievirus A16 and, yes, influenza.
‘For over 60 years, povidone iodine formulations [a more potent form of iodine than Lugol’s] have been shown to limit the impact and spread of infectious diseases,’ writes German virologist Maren Eggers (Infectious Diseases and Therapy, 2019; 8: 581-93).
Dr Myhill goes further: ‘There is no virus that is resistant to iodine.’
In fact, the World Health Organization includes iodine on its list of essential medicines.
The other interesting fact about iodine is that bugs don’t appear to have developed resistance to it, as they have to so many other disinfectants and antibiotics.
Lugol's Iodine Solution is usually taken transdermally — through the skin. It’s available in varying strengths. But Dr Myhill has two unique suggestions for coronavirus.
If you’re worried about catching coronavirus from the mailman or anyone else, she says, ‘Make up what I call iodine oil. Coconut also contact-kills COVID virus. If solid, soften some coconut oil and add 10 parts of coconut oil to 1 part of Lugol’s iodine. (Lugol’s comes in varying strengths, from 5 to 15 percent, but any strength will do.) It will make a yellowly liquid paste.
‘With any foreign contact, rub a marble size amount into your hands, forearm and around your face,’ says Dr Myhill. ‘That will contact-kill the virus in a few seconds. And it will stick to your door handle, or car door and kill virus there too.’
If you’re worried that you’ve inhaled droplets or you’re showing signs of coronavirus, says Dr Myhill, ‘Use a salt pipe. This is simply a clay pot filled with sea salt that can be used as an inhaler.
‘Drizzle Lugol’s 15 percent iodine 1-4 drops (whatever is tolerated) into the mouthpiece – sniff this through the nose and exhale through the mouth. Keep going until the iodine smell is gone (about 20 sniffs).
‘Do this at least three times daily but as often as you can according to the severity of the infection. In the short term expect to see more catarrh as the body sweeps out the dead microbes.’
Dr Myhill has used this on a number of patients with serious respiratory infections and it has worked very swiftly to get them better.
Once again, we may not have to wait for antivirals or vaccines. Nature has provided us with a cheap and plentiful virus killer.
To listen to all four free Get Well webinars on Supercharging Yourself Against Coronavirus, sign up here: https://getwell.solutions/covid-19-webinar/