About the action of iodine on the cold virus

History of iodine cold prevention

Chiyozo Makino, the director of the “Private Dainippon Makino Iodine Research Institute”, who has been working on “iodine treatment” since around 1913, wrote “Popular Spanish Influenza Studies” in 1920. In 1915, it was discovered that thyroid hormone contained elemental iodine. I heard that he started iodine treatment.

The book describes the fact that subcutaneous injections of calcium iodide solutions saved the lives of critically ill patients during the Spanish flu epidemic. The website of the Iodine Society, “History of Iodine in Japan,” also briefly introduces the usage and effects of iodine for epidemic influenza, pneumonia, etc.

Around 1950, when I was a child, if I had a sore throat due to a cold, I had the tonsils applied with Lugol’s solution (a reddish brown solution made by dissolving iodine and potassium iodide in glycerin) at the otolaryngology department. Recently, if you feel something wrong with your throat due to a cold, you can gargle with “Isodine mouthwash” to prevent the cold from getting worse.

Since around 1995, we have been researching dye-sensitized solar cells that use an organic solution of iodine and potassium iodide as an electrolyte. I think many researchers have never had a cold.　 I think that the small amount of sublimated iodine molecules taken into the body helped prevent colds.

Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Homepage: Reported that it has confirmed the effect of widely sterilizing viruses that infect the throat with the sterilizing and disinfecting ingredient “iodine”.

 Original Paper: “Inactivating Effects and Cytotoxicity of Oropharyngeal Medicines on Pharyngeal Infection Viruses” Journal of The Society for Antibacterial and Antifungal Agents, Japan, H. Okamoto, M. Nozaki, H. Kanemoto, M. Gomi, and H. Yan, 46,143 (2018).

Recently, quantum chemistry molecular modeling (DFT/MM) verified that when iodine dissolves in water, it becomes hydrogen iodide (HI) and hypoiodous acid (HOI) (to be published in the research trends in 2020 of Society of  Iodine Science (SIS) (referred the attached document.